


Stage Kiss

by HouseholdReylo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 2000s, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben is 17, Blow Jobs, Drinking, Dry Humping, F/M, Loss of Virginity, Making Out, Oral Sex, Rey is 15, Smoking, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, Teenagers, Theater Kids, Vaginal Fingering, all the sex stuff, drama club, stage stealing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:08:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24934285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseholdReylo/pseuds/HouseholdReylo
Summary: Corsucant High School, or The Rim, as it's affectionately called by the student body, has one of the best drama programs in the state, thanks to the brother-sister duo that head the music and theatrical departments. The past few years they have been exceptionally successful with Ben Solo gaining recognition from the state's annual one-act play competitions. Though he's won best actor on the regional level, his senior year is his last attempt at securing the win from State. That is, unless, a spunky underclassmen gets in the way.Follow our favorite cast through all the teenage drama that happens on and behind the scenes.DragonWhiskers made this beautiful moodboard for me. It's so perfect.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 51
Kudos: 98
Collections: ReylOlds





	1. Read Through

**Author's Note:**

> I was supposed to write another chapter for YIFH but...I couldn't get this story out of my mind. This will be full of teenage angst and poor decisions because, well, they're children with brains that have yet to fully form. (Not that our idiot love-birds make good decisions as adults.) Also, if you were a drama kid in high school this story should hit close home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Chapter 1 Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4VuBtNCXRqXaRu0fd8dH7j?si=Wygbc1ONTN-RnJHMzSGQdg%E2%80%9Drel=)

She was the only underclassman to get a part in the competition play. On the last day of Theatre 101, Mr. Skywalker had pulled her aside and told her to make sure she prepared a monologue over the summer. She hadn’t thought much about it until a week before school started. After typing “female monologues” into the Yahoo search bar and wading through several plays she’d never heard of, she chose one from Steel Magnolias. In eighth grade, she’d done a scene from that play with a few girls in her class and they’d gotten to spend two periods watching the movie, so at least she was somewhat familiar with it.

Rey memorized her lines in between taking fried fish orders at a restaurant that had both a dining room and a drive-thru, muttering, “I’m fine,” in every possible intonation she could think.

After her audition, Mr. Skywalker had nodded in approval but admonished her for picking a monologue for a 50-year-old woman instead of something appropriate to her age.

Rey swung open the auditorium door and walked down the side aisle toward the stage for the first day of rehearsals with the slight feeling that she was somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be-- like sneaking into an empty church. The house lights illuminated the stage, but the auditorium was still dark.

This was her first high school play. Last year the high school had teamed with two other schools to put on West Side Story. Freshman weren’t even allowed to audition, but Rey had begged Mr. Skywalker to let her do _something_. He’d agreed to let Rey be prop mistresses.

Rey had loved it; getting to mingle with the few upper classmen who’d taken her under their wing, letting her listen in on their backstage gossip about who was having sex with whom, riding along when they went out for Frosties after rehearsal, and trying her first Mike’s Hard Lemonade at the cast party.

The production had been amazing, the best show Rey had ever seen. Rey would watch every night from the wings with awe as the best of the three schools sang, danced, and acted their hearts out. She’d cry every time they sang “Somewhere.” It felt like a club she was just aching to join, not just be the lackey to. And here she was, finally a full-fledged member.

The first one in the quiet auditorium, Rey wasn’t sure where to go: up on the stage, the front row of plush red seats, or backstage where desks were set up in rows for a “classroom” setting. Rey stood with her thumbs under her backpack straps, shifting her weight from one white Adidas tennis shoe to the other, biting her bottom lip in front of the chest-high stage, listening for any voices that might direct her where she should go.

After a few minutes, the auditorium doors swung open and multiple voices streamed in along with light and noise from the quad outside the doors. Several familiar faces made their way down the same path Rey had traveled.

“I’m telling you Brad and Jennifer are the real deal. They’re never breaking up,” Rose, a junior who had played a Shark girl, flipped through an US Weekly and addressed Jessika, a senior who’d been one of the Jet girls.

Jessika peered over Rose’s shoulder at the magazine and pointed down at a different picture, “I still think Justin and Brittany are cuter. Do you really think she hasn’t slept with him?” Both girls stopped walking and looked at each other for a second before bursting into laughter. Jessika skipped ahead, her midriff showing between her layered spaghetti tank tops and Abercrombie & Fitch low-rise jeans, singing, “Bye, Bye, Bye.”

Rose continued down the aisle, flipping the pages of her magazine and snapping the gum in her mouth while muttering at a new picture, “Oh, Drew, honey. Tom Green?”

From the stage, Rey heard deeper voices in the wings. “I downloaded Eminem’s entire album on Napster last night. It’s sick.” From the curtains emerged Armitage Hux in a plain black scarf even though it’s still practically summer. He’d portrayed Riff.

With him was Phasma, a girl with short, platinum blond hair, the tips of which were dyed pink, that towered over Hux’s red hair, “Ugh, Hux. Eminem is so main-stream. If I have to hear Slim Shady one more fucking time—”

“Phas, have you seen the music video for Stan?” Rose called up to Phasma while dumping her backpack on the floor next to a front row seat, the dozen of bracelets that line each arm clinking together.

Phasma rolled her eyes before sitting with her legs hanging off the stage, “No.”

Rose rifled through her backpack and ripped off a piece of paper from a notebook, spitting her gum in it and wadding it up before shoving it in her bag, “It has Devon Sawa in it. It’s really cool. You should check it out.”

“I’m not going to wait around watching Carson Daily talk out of his ass to watch some stupid music video. And I have no idea who Devon Sawa is.” Phasma pulls her arms from the straps of her backpack and lets it fall with a thud behind her.

Jessika, having pulled the single strap of her messenger bag over her head and ditching it where it fell, used her arms to pull herself up on the stage to plop down next to Phasma, kicking off her three inch foam flip flops. “Yes you do. He’s the one from Final Destination.”

Rose leaned an arm on the stage while running her thumb under the hemp choker woven with beads around her neck and staring off dreamily into space. “And Casper.”

“Why are we talking about the friendly ghost?” All the heads in the room turned toward stage right as Poe Dameron walked onto the stage. Rey’s heart stopped out of habit. He was so dreamy, his brown waves perfectly sculped to swoop to the side of his head. Tony couldn’t have been played by anyone else, he’d been perfect. As he’d come to center stage, he turned to look at Rey, thus far completely ignored by everyone else. “Hey, Rey.” Everyone looked at Rey as if she materialized out of thin air.

“Hey, aren’t you the props girl from last year?” Jessika eyed Rey with attitude. “There was a cockroach in one of those soda bottles.”

Oh God. Crap. It’s true. She’d been instructed to fill the vintage coke bottles with store brand soda for the drug store scene but hadn’t thought to wash the bottles out first. It wasn’t until she was dumping them in the gutter that she noticed the bug and shrieked in horror.

Rey looked down at her Old Navy shorts and bare legs and tried to croak out an apology, her backpack still on and feeling like a middle schooler again.

Poe piped up, “I wish you could have seen Jessika’s face when she went to take a sip, Rey. It was hilarious watching her try not to break character.”

Jessika shot him an evil stare. Rey had been in love with Poe all through middle school. They’d done Charlie Brown when she was in 6th grade and he was a 7th grader. He’d been Charlie, of course, and Rey had played his little sister, Sally. More than one notebook had the name Rey Dameron scribbled on the cover, but over the past year her crush had dwindled as they’d become better friends. He felt more like a big brother now, especially after all the time they’d spent together for West Side Story.

Poe’s smile boosted her confidence, Rey turned toward Jessika, “I’m so sorry about the cockroach. I felt bad about it all summer.”

Jessika looked from Rey to Poe, who’d given her a challenging stare, and then flipped her hair over her shoulder, “Ugh, it’s fine.” It seemed that even though he was a junior, his lead role the previous spring had moved his social rank higher than several of the seniors.

“Aren’t you a sophomore?” Hux, who has been staring at his Nokia Brick, no doubt playing Snake, and who had no bag on him, looked up and noticed Rey for the first time.

A voice boomed from the back of the auditorium, “I though Skywalker said no underclassmen were allowed to audition.” Finn, Rey’s best friend, winked at her as he made his way down the aisle, twin brothers Cody and Fives rough housing with each other as they followed behind him.

Rey turned to answer the other students in the room, since Finn had known about Rey’s audition and part as soon as she did, “Um, Mr. Skywalker told me I could audition.”

“He invited her,” he corrected, wrapping an arm around her. “She was a killer Ophelia in the Freshman showcase last year.” Rey blushed from the compliment, still not used to receiving them, even from Finn.

A few heads nodded in acceptance. Before the conversation could pick up, their director’s footsteps clacked against the stage. Everyone knew who it was as a teacher would be the only person among a group of kids to be wearing hard-soled shoes. His glasses rested on top of his long, grey hair as he held a pile of stapled scripts. Handing them out he announced, “This is the play we’re taking to competition this year. It’s called ‘Bang-Bang, You’re Dead’.” They’d all auditioned without knowing what the play would be. No need. It would be something specially selected to showcase their talents and their strengths, giving them the best chance at advancing to State. This wasn’t about high school hierarchy politics like the spring musical, this was about getting the most talented people front and center so they could win. Their high school had won Regionals three years in a row. There was an expectation that they would win a fourth.

As each cast member accepted their script with their part written across the top of the page, Mr. Skywalker started to explain the plot. “It’s a school shooting piece, which I think will grab the judges’ attention after the events of the last few years. You’ll each play family members of students who have been killed by the main character, Josh.”

“Woah, dark.” Cody flips through the pages, “I love it.”

Poe looked disappointedly at the name on the top of his packet, “Who is playing Josh?”

Mr. Skywalker answered matter-of-factly without looking up, “Ben.”

A murmur rippled through the crowd just as the oversized stage door slammed open. Heavy, Chuck Taylored footsteps carried Ben Solo across the stage where he grabbed a script from Mr. Skywalker’s extended hand. “You’re late.”

Ben jumped off the stage, brushing past Rey to slump in a seat on the front row. He reeked of cigarettes

Rey, of course, knew who Ben Solo was. Besides winning them the last three competitions, he’d starred in “Harvey,” “Look Homeward Angel,” and “Glass Menagerie.” She watched him in all of them, her middle school teacher encouraging them to attend all the high school plays. He was brilliant. Everyone knew that someday they’d be watching Ben Solo on their T.V.s or in the movie theater. He didn’t do musicals but Rey had heard from Finn, who’d heard from Poe, who’d heard from Rose, that Mr. Skywalker had begged Ben to play the Schrank in “West Side Story” last year, and in exchange he’d let him pick the competition piece for this year.

Ben rolled up his script and interrupted the director who’d been answering questions from the students on stage, by pointing his script at Rey and barking, “Who is this?”

Affronted, Rey had turned around and stood tall, “Mr. Skywalker let me audition.”

Ignoring her, he looked up at the teacher, “Is she any good? I don’t want a freshman screwing up our chances to win State.”

Rey knew this was Ben’s last chance to take State but, still indignant, she’d stomped her foot and forced him to look at her by shifting to stand directly in front of him. “I’m a sophomore.” His dark eyes roved her body top to bottom once before looking away. Rey was taken aback, still not used to the way boys leered at her mature body. He probably wasn’t even looking at her like that anyway.

Mr. Skywalker tiredly waved Ben off, “She was my best intro student last year, Ben. I assure you, she’s good enough,” and turned to face the other students on the stage.

Rey, who had turned to listen to her teacher’s assessment, faced Ben again with her arms crossed and a smug look of satisfaction on her face. Ben just rolled his eyes, stood up, and made his way to the stairs on the side of the stage, taking two at a time as he began to address the cast.

“I need you guys not to suck this year. I think you should start with a character write-up. Build a backstory—”

“Ben, I can take it from here.” Ben huffed at his teacher’s rebuke but let him take the lead.

Mr. Skywalker finished handing out the script and Rey scrambled up on the stage to grab her copy. She read “Actor 3” on her page. They all took a moment to compare their parts and flip through the pages to see how many lines their characters had. Rey didn’t have many, but that was fine. She smiled, just happy to be there.

“Grab some folding chairs from the back. I want to do a read through. Oh, Rey?” Rey stopped walking off stage to face her teacher, “Bazine isn’t here today. Will you read Emily for us?” Skywalker pulled his glasses back onto his nose to peer down at the script in his hands.

“Oh. Sure!” Excitement and pride built up in her chest while she ran backstage for a chair.

“I heard Bazine’s nose job isn’t fully recovered yet. That’s why she missed the first week of school.” Rey eavesdropped while Rose and Jessika whispered to each other behind the black curtains. Bazine had played Anita. She’d been perfect for the part: beautiful, outgoing, spicy, and crazy talented, an absolute triple-threat. She and Ben Solo had been the theater power couple last year, earning them the title Benzine.

“Talk about a revenge make-over,” Jessika continued to Rose. “What do you think Ben will think when she gets back? Do you think he’ll regret dumping her?”

Rey slowly carried her chair behind the older girls, “That’s not what I heard,” Rose leaned toward Jessika. “I heard she dumped him after she caught him making out with that girl from Northside who played Maria.” Rose stopped the gossip once they joined the group, a quick glace in Ben’s direction to make sure he hadn’t heard them.

They all arranged their chairs in a semi-circle facing Ben and Mr. Skywalker. Several of the students had grabbed colored pens or highlighters to start marking up their scripts. Rey realized she had grabbed neither. Rose, sitting next to Rey, noticed Rey looking around the circle and handed her a spare pen, whispering, “You’ll do great. I saw the freshman showcase last year. You were really good. I’m Rose.”

Rey nodded her head and gave Rose a small smile in appreciation and thanks. “I’m Rey.” Rey wondered if she should let Rose know that they’ve already met. In fact, they’d taken apart Maria’s bedroom together during strike.

“We’ll be using a bare stage with black boxes to create scenes.” Mr. Skywalker’s glasses rested on the tip of his nose so he could look down at the papers through them and up at the students without.

“Thank God. When that fucking door frame fell over last year, I about shit my pants.” Fives shook his head at the memory while punching Cody in the arm for no reason. Cody punched him back.

Mr. Skywalker looked up at the twins disapprovingly, “Yes. We learned our lesson last year that too many complicated set pieces eat up our time.” Looking down at the script, he flipped the first page and the students followed with a woosh of paper. “Run time should be just under 50 minutes. Once we are closer, we can cut a few lines if we think we’re close to running over.”

The students all nodded in approval. Rey nodded along even though she was pretty clueless as to what Mr. Skywalker was talking about.

“We’ll use flashlights to illuminate who is talking during some of the scenes. It will work like a bells chorus, most of the lines from the different students, family members, all flow together as they torment Josh.” More papers shuffled as students looked through the script, making marks and highlighting their lines. Rey started underlining her parts to keep up.

“You’ll have to have perfect fucking timing.” Ben stared down the cast.

Mr. Skywalker gave Ben the same disapproving look he’d given the twins, “Language, Ben.”

Ben scoffed and uncurled the script he’d been rolling even tighter in his hands. “Can we just start?”

“Yes. Armitage, do you mind timing us?” Hux rolled his wrist over and pushed the buttons on his Fossil watch.

“Who’s there?” Ben starts, intense and focused. “Who is it? Who’s there?”

Poe, “Why me?”

Rose, “Why me?”

Finn, “Why me?”

Jessika, “Why me?”

The silence carried on a beat too long. Mr. Skywalker looked up at Rey, “Rey, remember, you’re reading Emily.”

Rey had gotten lost in the precision the cast had already executed in the first few lines, like a team that was used to anticipating each other’s moves. The scared quality that had come over Ben’s voice was mesmerizing. She’d already felt sympathy for the character he was creating.

Ben flopped his script in his lap, breaking character, and let his head fall back, exasperated. He muttered to himself, “Fuck me,” as he wiped his hand across his face.

Rey scrambled to find her place on the page. “Oh. Right. I’m sorry. --Why’d you kill us, Josh?”

“Cry me a river—I feel like a swim.” Ben shot her daggers that said, _So help me, if you fuck this up_ \-- but she’d held his gaze, and a little voice inside Rey replied, _bite me_.

By the time they’d gotten to Emily’s big scenes, Rey was more comfortable with herself. Emily was Josh’s best childhood friend and next-door neighbor, whom he had an unrequited crush on. Rey thought the character felt very independent and passionate, and refused to deal with a lot of Josh’s tantrums and moods. Rey wished she could play this part for real.

During the heavy dialogue between Josh and Emily, Ben had thrown his lines at Rey, waiting for her to strike out. She’d hit them all. In fact, all his lines left his mouth with an urgency Rey hadn’t expected. He hardly looked at the script, being nearly off book. Rey could sense the almost desperation that emanated from him. This _had_ to be good, like his life depended on it, and Rey supposed it did. Winning State would definitely look good on his college applications, especially if he pulled off Best Actor like he’d done last year at Regionals.

As their banter picked up pace, Rey was swept into the dance, keeping up with each of Ben’s steps. After one particularly well delivered line, Ben had looked up at her with what almost looked like surprise, his eyebrows arching. Then again, he could have been in character.

They’d continued through the entire script. “48 minutes,” Hux had let the beep of his watch punctuate the end of the read through.

“Ok. That’s good. We have plenty of time to speed up the rhythm with the chorus lines, and we’ll see how much time the blocking adds.” Mr. Skywalker made some notes on the last page before flipping the script back to the front. “I want the first 20 pages memorized by tomorrow.”

Everyone groaned and stood, some dropping their scripts on the stage to fold up their chairs and stack them against the side stage wall. Finn walked close to Rey, “You did great! You could totally play Emily. Maybe Bazine will never come back and you can take her part.”

Rey placed her chair and shoved Finn playfully with her shoulder, “Thanks, but she would murder me.”

“That’s ok, we’re all playing ghosts anyway. Do you need a ride today?” Finn walked with Rey as they made their way down the stage steps, grabbing their scripts along the way to shove into their backpacks.

“Yes, please. Can you drop me off at work?” Rey pulled the dark green polo with a cartoon fish over the right breast out of her backpack and shoved the script inside. No matter how many times she’d washed it, it still stunk of grease.

“Sure, I’m going to go talk to Poe real quick. Meet you at the car?” Finn traced his eyes around the auditorium to see where Poe had wandered off to.

Rey nodded, zipping up her bag. “Yup. I’m going to go change.”

After she’d pulled the disgusting polo over her worn nude bra, Rey had pulled her hair into a ponytail and looked at her reflection. Puberty seamed basically over at this point. She hadn’t grown any since 7th grade, and the small boobs she’d gotten the summer before ninth grade hadn’t gotten any bigger. It was hard to fight the insecurities being a 15-year-old girl brought, but she shrugged at herself and thought, _Eh, it could be worse_.

After exiting the school doors closest to the theater, Rey noticed Ben Solo and Hux leaning up against Ben’s vintage boat of a car, smoking. Rey had no idea what kind of a car it was, but It looked like something a New York gangster would have driven in the 60s. It made Ben and Hux look cool, but also slightly refined, like they’d carefully remove and fold their suit jackets and roll up their sleeves so as not to ruin their nice clothes, before pummeling you to death.

Hux made a taunting fish face at Rey as she walked by, attempting to cross through the senior parking lot to the further-away junior spaces to meet Finn. “You ready to take my order?” He laughed at his own joke, Ben taking a long drag from his cigarette, unamused.

“Shut up, Hux.” Rey’s confidence was still up from Finn’s compliments and a few the girls had offered her on her way out.

“I still can’t believe Skywalker let you in. What a joke,” Hux said dismissing her.

“I still can’t believe you haven’t gotten that stick removed from your ass.”

Ben watched Hux’s jaw drop at the insult, a smirk on his face as he exhaled his last drag and flicked his butt into the grass. “She wasn’t that bad.” He pocketed the crumpled pack of Marlboro Reds and his Zippo lighter that had been resting on the hood of the car, while pulling out his keys from the other. “Let’s go,” he instructed Hux.

Rey was struck by the half-compliment so much that she’d stopped walking. Hux dropped his butt onto the asphalt and twisted his boot over it. “Whatever. See ya ‘round, shark bait.”

As Rey made her way to Finn’s car she replayed the surprising words Ben Solo had said about her, “She wasn’t that bad.” Maybe he wasn’t totally the evil son-of-a-bitch everyone said he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bang-Bang You're Dead is a real play by William Mastrosimone that was first performed in 1999 following the Heath, Westside and Thurston High School school shootings that took place in 1997-1998.
> 
> If you are enjoying this fic, I’d love if you gave another one of my works a read.
> 
> [ Yoga Is For Hippies ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782273/chapters/57129187): Professional golfer Kylo Ren/Ben Solo finds a cute little yoga instructor to help him loosen his hips. Explicit. 23 Chapters. COMPLETE (My first fic!) 
> 
> [A Vineyard in Baal-Hamon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459019/chapters/59026630): Medieval/renaissance piece. Rey and Kylo/Ben are sexual slaves for King Snoke. Explicit. 5/? Chapters. Tagged for Non-Con. 
> 
> [Recollection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609530/chapters/64880041): Ben Solo has been missing, presumed dead, for over ten years. While shopping for her son's birthday dinner, Rey sees a ghost from her past. Explicit. 3/? Chapters. (Calling all passengers for the Pain Train. Whoot-whoot)
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter! [HouseholdReylo](https://twitter.com/HouseholdReylo)


	2. Range

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Skywalker makes a request of Ben and Rey.  
>   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't make a play list for this chapter but I'm going to link the entire White Album. I suggest you give it a listen.

Ben sat on a black wooden box center stage, his elbows on his knees, his face buried in his hands. “Every kid in the school’s laughing at me.”

Rey watched intently, waiting for her cue to laugh with the rest of the students. She didn’t have any lines for a few pages, but she wasn’t about to laugh when she wasn’t supposed to. She’d gone home and highlighted, in pink, all the lines before the chorus was supposed to laugh together at Josh. She was waiting for Bazine to say, “A heart nobody knows.”

“They’re not laughing at you.” Bazine placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder. Rey picked up on the subtle pity and cation in her voice and body language. Rey was more than a little disappointed when Bazine had returned to school, but she had to admit, she was a damn good actor.

He flinched at her touch and jumped to his feet, looking frantically at each of the students that stood in a loose semi-circle around them, his eyes blown wide with panic, “Why are they looking at me?”

Bazine didn’t acknowledge any of the students that surrounded them, keeping her gaze on Josh. Annoyance and pleading poured through her next line, “Let’s just finish the assignment, Josh.”

Ben looked back at Bazine, his words sharp and dismissive, “I’ll do it on my own.”

He continued to live up to expectation. Ben had made Rey cry two days ago, his lines tender and heartbreaking. She’d quickly wiped away a tear from each eye, hopeful that no one had seen.

Yesterday her stomach had flipped and her face flushed when Josh flew off the handle in the scene with his parents. She could feel the rage crashing against her like waves on the beach. He was frightening. And amazing. Rey didn’t know if she could ever pull something so raw from within herself.

Poe, “You make your face a mask.”

Rose, “A mask that hides your face.”

Finn, “A face that hides the pain.”

Jessika, “A pain that eats your heart.”

Bazine, “A heart nobody knows.”

Rey laughed along with the rest of the students.

As the students spoke, they took one step forward, separating themselves from the chorus. There was no pattern to their order. Bazine stepped back, next to Rey, into the semi-circle on her line. Rey secretly wished that Bazine would get hit in the face by a stray volleyball during PE so she could take her part back.

“That’s enough for today,” Mr. Skywalker took his glasses off and set them in the open binder that held his marked and tabbed script on a music stand. He rubbed the bridge of his nose where his glasses had sat. “That puts us about half-way. We should be finished with blocking by next week.”

Several of the students adjusted their rigid posture to more relaxed stances, folding their arms and shifting their weight to one foot. Some sat on the black ramps behind each of them, laid out like rays on a half sun. Rose unwrapped a new piece of gum from her back pocket and popped it in her mouth. Jessika took her hair out of its messy twist and clipped the hair claw to the hem of her t-shirt.

Mr. Skywalker ran both hands through his greying hair, “Before I dismiss you for the night, I need to let you know that Principle Holdo has asked that we perform for the alumni event next weekend.”

Several alarmed voices started speaking at once:

“We’re not ready!”

“I haven’t memorized my lines!”

“Do we have to?”

“Fuck that!”

Rey stayed silent but worried about her hours at the restaurant.

He held up two hands to calm the frantic teenagers, “Stop.” He waited for them to settle down. “We don’t have to perform anything from the competition piece. They just want to showcase all the departments -- the jazz band, choir, a gallery from the art department -- in order to meet their funding goals for the year. You can do a monologue or scene you’re working on for class or something from last year.”

The general mood relaxed, students muttering, “Oh, ok,” “That’s not so bad,” “Sure, we can do that.”

Rey didn’t relax, though. She’d have to ask off work and she wasn’t taking theater this semester, so she didn’t have anything she was working on. She wasn’t sure if she remembered any of her lines from her Ophelia scene, and her partner wasn’t in the competition cast. Would Mr. Skywalker let him do the scene with her? She sat on her ramp to chew on a fingernail.

“Finn and Poe, will you do _Who’s on First_ again?”

“Sure thing, Mr. S,” Poe offered. The boys, who were standing next to each other, did an overhead high five without looking away from their teacher.

Mr. Skywalker picked up his glasses, placed them on the top of his head, and closed his binder, trapping pens and sticky notes inside, “Ben, I want you and Bazine to do the Romeo and Juliet scene from the spring.”

“Hell no!” Ben jumped to his feet after sitting on his center block.

“Mr. Skywaker,” Bazine tucked her long brown hair that was parted down the center behind an ear and then stuck both hands into her back pockets. Her black tank top was pulled tightly across her chest as it lifted above her waistline revealing a Chinese character tattoo above her hipbone. What tattoo artist did she blow in exchange for the underage ink? “Phas and I have been working on something from _The Crucible_ , if that’s ok.” Bazine looked back toward Phasma and then to Mr. Skywalker, letting her straightened hair fall over her shoulder, covering one of her high cheekbones.

The director looked at the girls for a moment before shaking his head and turning his attention to Rey. “Fine. Rey, you do the Romeo and Juliet with Ben,” he held the binder to his chest with one hand and stuck the other in his pocket, walking stage left.

Rey looked up at the sound of her name, her ring fingernail between her teeth, her brain replaying the words she hasn’t been paying close attention to. She took her finger out of her mouth once her brain sorted all the words together. A scene, with Ben. He’d asked her to do a scene from Romeo and Juliet with Ben Solo.

Ben followed after Mr. Skywalker, not looking once toward Rey. “Don’t you think Romeo and Juliet is a little hackneyed? How about I do something from _Being John Malkovitch_?” The director just kept walking backstage, toward the classroom set up and the desk he used there. He didn’t respond to Ben as he placed his binder on the desk and then turned around to lean against it, his legs crossed, and arms folded. Ben stood in front of him like a teenager trying to convince his parents that his curfew should be extended. “Or if you want Shakespeare, I can do Hamlet or King Lear.”

“I thought you said Shakespeare was hackneyed,” the teacher lifted an eyebrow.

Rey had stood from her ramp and hesitantly followed the men, keeping herself between the curtains, unable to decide if she should be a part of the conversation or not.

Ben leaned against a desk in the front row, his posture strikingly similar to his teacher’s as he also folded his arms across a chest that was much fuller than it had been before summer break. “I only did that scene with Bazine last year to make up for punching a hole in her wall. Don’t make me do it again.”

“Honestly Ben, I think you could learn a thing or two from doing the scene with Rey.” Ben’s mouth dropped open as a small “gaw” broke through his throat. “Take a break from tortured and brooding for a minute; I think you’ve got that down.” Mr. Skywalker chuckled once while motioning for Rey to come closer. He looked back at a bewildered Ben, “Think of it as an opportunity to work on your range.” He turned to Rey, now at his side, “Rey, do you mind helping Ben with this scene?” A swell of pride rose in Rey’s chest at her teacher’s words.

Ben looked at the older man, disbelieving the way he had phrased the question, insinuating Rey would be doing him the favor. Rey looked from Mr. Skywalker to Ben. She watched as his stunned face moved to hers. With her champion at her side, she felt the confidence to smirk back at him.

Ben rolled his eyes and tossed his head back with a groan more than a word, “Fine.” And then he stalked off through the stage doors.

Still gripping her script in one hand, Rey thanked Mr. Skywalker, shouldered her backpack from the floor, and made her way through the desks to follow after Ben.

She had to stop before exiting the rows to let Rex and Fives pass, “First one to the car, drives home?”

“Deal.” They both sprinted to the door, pushing and shoving to get ahead of the other.

Rey walked quickly behind them, hoping to catch Ben in the parking lot before he left. She stepped into the hall and was relieved to see Hux at the vending machine, a sure sign that Ben was probably still on campus. He had both arms around the vending machine, his front pressed to the length of it while shaking it side to side, a growl of frustration vibrating off the glass.

“You may want to buy it dinner first if you want it to put out,” Rey stood with her weight on one foot and a hip jutted out, pleased with herself.

Hux turned his head toward Rey, his grip loosened on the machine, “What would you know about putting out?”

Rey’s mouth opened as a breath of indignation puffed out. She rolled her eyes and turned to exit the school, holding onto some semblance of pride.

So maybe he was right; maybe she didn’t know the first thing about sex. It didn’t help that her best friend was the son of a preacher and all her social engagements were focused on helping her find Jesus. There wasn’t much sex-ed going on at Bible study, or lock-ins, or World-Changers. It’s not that she particularly liked the Jesus-ness of it all, but when Finn invited her to pizza and games with the youth minister on her first day of sixth grade, it seemed like a good idea. He kept inviting and she kept accepting; they were nice, and there was free food.

Passing under the yellowing leaves of a huge tree that grew in a square of dirt in the sea of concrete outside the exit closest to the theater, Rey stepped toward Ben’s car. He leaned down through his open window and emerged with his lighter and smokes in hand.

Rey walked cautiously toward Ben who leaned against his driver side door. She stepped down off the sidewalk, her hand wrapped tightly around the one strap that hung from her shoulder. She gave it a tug as she bounced it up higher, giving herself the pep talk needed to approach Ben Solo without Mr. Skywalker at her back. “She wasn’t that bad,” played over and over in her mind as she took each nervous step.

Ben didn’t acknowledge her presence while he flipped the top of his Zippo lighter and held it to the cigarette between his lips. Being this close, Rey saw the initials _A.S._ engraved into the silver. After taking his first full drag and then letting the cigarette sit loosely between his fingers, he exhaled out the side of his mouth looking out into the parking lot, “What?”

Rey looked down at her tennis shoes. She’d let Rose doodle with Sharpies on the three white lines of the left shoe while they watched _Glory_ in American History; they were covered in flowers and skulls. She cleared her throat and looked up at Ben who was pulling again from his cigarette and still not making eye contact with her, “We should pick a time to work on the scene. I can give you my number.” Rey swung her backpack around and unzipped the front pocket on her JanSport, pulling out a purple gel pen.

She’d only given her number to a boy, other than Finn, once. Sure she’d caught Kevin, her lab partner, looking down her V-neck top once, and he’d recovered with a lousy, “Uh, I like your necklace,” but he was harmless, and giving him her number had felt completely platonic. This didn’t feel like that.

“Sure,” he wiped his thumb across his lips with the hand holding his cigarette and flipped the hair that constantly fell into his eyes with a twitch of his head, while Rey wrote her number on the cover sheet of her script. She ripped her number off the corner and held it out for him to take. He broke his stare into the parking lot to look down at it for a few seconds before accepting it and shoving it into the front pocket of his black jeans.

Rey pulled the zipper closed on her backpack and let it fall back behind her. “So, you’ll call me?” her voice lifted in a question as she looked up at him and then away when she realized his eyes were on the cigarette he rolled between his thumb and fingers before sucking again from the tip. This was pretty much the most insane thing she’d ever done thus far in her high school career. She had just asked Ben Solo to call her.

“How about now?” the smoke left his nostrils this time as he studied his solid black Converse high tops, his tongue flicked out to lick his bottom lip. Rey caught herself looking at his lips for the second time in the last minute.

“Now—what?” Rey lifted her gaze from his mouth to his eyes curtained by black hair.

Ben uncrossed his feet and stood straight up, looking down at the orange filter before flicking it to remove ash from the end of his cigarette, then tossing his hair out of his face again before inhaling. “Let’s go over the scene now,” the smoke left his mouth with his words as he finally looked at Rey for the first time. He used the back of his left hand to wave the smoke way from his face with one motion while he waited for Rey’s response.

“Oh,” Rey looked up at Ben, her hazel eyes lingering on his brown, “I have to work in an hour.”

Ben’s hand rested on the edge of his hood, the cigarette burning down between his fingers, “Well, that’s in an hour.” He looked straight into her and Rey broke their eye contact, feeling extremely vulnerable all of a sudden, like if she held his stare, he’d start to unwrap her secrets.

Rey shuffled her feet and looked back toward the school doors. “Oh, Finn usually drives me to work.” This was not going the way she’d expected. She was going to give him her number; he was going to give her his. They’d wait until the very last possible minute, a game of telephone chicken, until one of them broke down and called the other one to go over the scene an hour before the showcase. Why wasn’t he going along with the plan?

Ben pulled his keys from his left pocket, “I can drive you.”

_Oh, farts._

Rey knew that there were a million reasons why Ben Solo driving her to work was a terrible idea, she just couldn’t think of them in the moment.

“Yeah, sure. Ok,” Rey peeked up at him through her lashes. He was still looking right at her. He put the cigarette between his lips and her eyes were, once again, mesmerized by his mouth.

_Stop looking at his mouth. He probably tastes terrible after all those cigarettes._

_Stop thinking about what Ben Solo tastes like!_

He tossed his hair.

_Heavens, Ben. Cut it or get a headband!_

Scratch that. Rey could watch him toss his hair for hours. She could braid it out of his eyes for him, run her fingers—

_Stop thinking about touching his hair!_

Finn walked out, breaking Rey from her tortured analysis of Ben Solo’s mouth and hair. “Rey, you ready to go?”

Rey turned, relieved at the new distraction, and then anxious at having to tell Finn the change in plans.

She jumped up onto the sidewalk and jogged over to Finn, “Actually, Ben is going to take me.” Rey turned to point at Ben as if Finn needed a reminder of who Ben was. A smile was planted on her face, like this was a totally normal situation, her getting in a car, alone, with Ben Solo.

“Ben? Ben Solo is driving you to work?” His voice was low so only Rey could hear him as his eyes danced from her to the surly teen over her shoulder. The longer he looked at Ben, the closer his eyebrows pulled together and the more his expression got “protective big brother-y.”

Rey tilted her head to block Finn’s stare down at Ben, catching his eyes so he’d look back at her. She placed two hands on Finn’s chest and pushed him back the few steps he’d instinctively taken toward Ben. “Yes. It’s fine. We’re just going to go over the scene Mr. Skywalker asked us to do. I’ll call you when I get to work.”

“You sure, Peanut?” he searched her face, and she drew on her best acting skills to paint her face as a girl who was totally not freaked out about riding in a car with the kid she’d heard spent a week in juvie the summer before his sophomore year.

She pulled her strap up on her shoulder, “Yes. I’m sure.” Her hands went to his shoulders, squeezing them for added reassurance.

“Ok. I expect a call in an hour.” Finn started walking backwards toward his car, pointing at Rey, “If I don’t hear from you, I’m showing up at your place of work.” Rey smiled as her best friend walked further from her. She really didn’t know what she’d do without him. He’d pretty much given her the family she’d always wished for with that first invitation.

With the plans settled, Rey turned toward Ben, who blew the last of his smoke out while looking down to twist his sneaker into the asphalt. He turned his head up to her, flicked his hair out of his eyes and asked, “Ready?”

Butterflies danced in her stomach, “Yeah. Ready.”

While he folded himself into the driver’s side of the car, Rey pushed the button under the long silver handle of the passenger side and swung open one of the car’s two doors. Sliding her backpack off her shoulder to rest between her feet, Rey slid onto the burgundy leather bench seat. The edges of the seat were starting to rip and expose the cushioning underneath.

As her eyes followed one particular crack in the upholstery, it occurred to her that there was nothing separating herself from Ben. They were sitting just as far away, or as close, as any car, but the single bench made her feel like they were sitting side by side. She scooted closer to the door to make sure there was plenty of room between them.

Rey whipped around at Ben, a new thought popped into her head, “Don’t you need to give Hux a ride?”

Sticking his keys into the ignition, a bottle opener keychain hanging from his keyring, “No. He has another ride today.”

Music started playing from the modern stereo that had been bolted unceremoniously under the dashboard. He wrapped his oversized hand around the gear shift that sat on red floorboard carpet, while his feet worked the gas and the clutch to pull the car out of the high school parking lot. There was something hot about watching a man drive stick, listening to and anticipating the needs of his car.

Rey had hoped that telling him where she worked and giving him directions would have filled the awkward silence, but apparently, he already knew, as his car headed in the right direction. Rey, instead, listened to the song that resumed mid-track:

My mother was of the sky  
My father was of the earth  
But I am of the universe  
And you know what it's worth

I'm lonely  
Want to die  
If I ain't dead already  
Oh, girl, you know the reason why

_Really, Ben? You listen to this to start your day?_

The song was bluesy but with a hint of hair band and something familiar. “These guys sound like the Beatles.”

Ben scoffed as he let the thin steering wheels pull back through his fingers after his last turn, “That’s because it is the Beatles.”

Rey sat up from her slouched position and scooted one inch closer on the bench, “Oh, I’ve never heard this song before.”

Transitioning the car into fourth gear as he merged onto the highway, “How can you know who the Beatles are and not have listened to _The White Album_?” Ben reached down and grabbed a CD case from a pile off the floor and put it in Rey’s lap.

She turned the case over in her hands to read the back, “Cool. All I have is the 1 CD.” Rey pulled the plastic case open, “Oh, it has a second disk.”

A huff of laughter, that felt very condescending, left his mouth as he ejected the CD and handed it to Rey. She accepted it and traded it for the one in the case, his fingers brushing her palm in the exchange.

He let the CD get sucked into the player as it whirled to start the first track. Rey closed the case and turned to the back again. As the song started, she read the title and exclaimed, “Oh! I know this one!” Ben just turned up the volume and rested his elbow out the open window, letting the wind whip his hair all over his face.

Rey followed suit and rolled her window down as well, tying her hair back into a ponytail with the elastic around her wrist. As they sped down the highway, the wind and the late afternoon September sun blended with the classic car and the classic song to give Rey a thrill of teenage freedom. She felt very grown up and cool and even dared to sing along with the words she knew:

I'm back in the USSR  
You don't know how lucky you are, boy  
Back in the US  
Back in the US  
Back in the USSR

Ben just looked over at her occasionally, letting himself enjoy the adolescent moment, tapping the rhythm out on the steering wheel. It somehow softened him, watching him do something that everyone did. Gloria Estefan was right, “The rhythm is going to get you.”

After the song ended, he skipped a few songs on the CD. “You’ll like this one,” he glanced at Rey.

He was right. Rey did like it. It was upbeat and fun. Rey found it on the back of the case: Oh bla dee oh bla da. It was about a couple named Desmond and Molly settling down and having a happy little life. It felt hopeful, like anyone could dream for the same simple joys.

Ben skipped ahead a couple songs to the melancholy “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Rey watched the trees blur outside her window and Ben kept his eyes on the road, his expression guarded.

Feeling brave, Rey reached over to skip a few songs to one she thought she recognized from the list. Ben looked down at her fingers but didn’t stop her.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night  
Take these broken wings and learn to fly  
All your life  
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

She loved it. She quickly added it to her list of favorite songs. The lyrics weren’t complex, but they spoke something to her deep inside.

They let the stereo play the rest of the songs in order. Ben pulled off the freeway and into the parking lot of the restaurant. A little fish wearing a hat smiled on the sign.

“You can just pull around the back,” Rey leaned forward in her seat to direct him to the back door, the one next to the dumpster.

Ben parked the car and cut the engine just as the next song started, “Why don’t we—.” He reached behind Rey’s seat and she was startled by his sudden proximity. The smell of smoke got stronger as his shoulder almost grazed hers. He sat back up with a huge pile of papers and scripts that he plopped into his lap. He let his hair fall between them as he rummaged through the old tests, essays, and several different colored script booklets, tossing them to the back seat as he looked for one in particular.

Rey couldn’t help herself and noted a few of the red ink marks scribbled across the pages.

_Damn._

She’d heard Solo was smart but seeing his grades in person was humbling. Finn had told her that when Solo wrote his tenth grade, state mandated, 1-3-1 essay, the one that she and the entire tenth grade had started to practice for even though the exam wasn’t until May, that he’d made up the book he’d used to answer the prompt and still gotten the highest grade possible.

Finding what he was looking for, Ben dumped the rest of the stack behind him. In his hands sat a very worn copy of Romeo and Juliet. It looked like it used to be red, but the cover had been bleached by the sun to make it a dull pink. The entire thing curled up as if it had been rolled and shoved into someone’s back pocket, or the pages had been wrapped around each other while reading. Rey held back a smile as she realized Ben Solo has undoubtedly read Romeo and Juliet dozens of times.

Ben flipped to the correct pages and then held the book out for Rey to see. There were penciled notes all throughout it. She moved herself closer on the bench, a few inches at a time, until she was close enough to read the scene. His arm touched hers as he brought the script in front of Rey’s face, realizing that her eyeline was much lower than his.

Rey scanned the pages he held up. “So, you did the balcony scene.” She looked up at his face, now much closer than she realized and quickly looked back down at the booklet.

He tossed the hair from his eyes but kept his eyes glued to the page, “Yeah, sorry. It was Bazine’s thing. I just went along with it.”

“No, it’s cool. The alumni will love it. It’s what most people are familiar with.” Rey silently thanked her eighth grade Honors English teacher for being obsessed with everything Shakespeare. Sure, she’d seen the Claire Danes and Leo version in seventh grade, but she’d hardly understood a word of it. Eighth grade she’d read _Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor_ , and _Romeo and Juliet_. They’d gone as a class to see _Romeo and Juliet_ performed downtown. She’d even written a report on The Globe Theater. She was feeling pretty confident.

“You want to just—start?” He turned to look at her, his tongue wetting his lips and Rey just nodded at his much-too-big-for-his-face mouth before getting it together and turning to follow along on the page.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?   
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Ben continued through Romeo’s opening monologue and Rey did her best not to fall in love with him. It’s pretty hard not to swoon when someone is telling you you’re the sun, even if someone is just acting.

See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!  
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,  
That I might touch that cheek!

_Don’t think about his enormous hand on your cheek._

There was a pause. Instead of jumping down her throat at the missed line, Ben just said, “Rey,” and pointed to the page. Rey shook herself from her daydream.

Ay me.

_Ay me indeed._ It took every ounce of willpower to keep her eyes on the page and not look over at Ben while he called her an angel.

Rey tried out her first line, “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?” It felt too cliché in her mouth. She’d have to work on that.

They continued through the entire scene as the sun dipped lower in the horizon, turning everything in the car to gold. Rey stopped when the nurse called for Juliet and asked, “Do we want to have Rose or someone say those lines?”

“Sure. That’s fine,” his deep voice was still earnest and adoring, still in the character he’d started to adopt as he read.

Rey read her last lines and then sat back against the seat. Ben closed and set the book down on the bench between them, turning his body to face Rey as he recited the last lines from memory. Rey turned her body to face him, letting his final words hit her head on.

Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!

Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!

Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell,

His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.

He kept looking at Rey and she at him, neither of them sure what to say to break the building silence. They’d just spoken the most intimate and beautiful words to each other. It was hard not to be affected.

Ben broke first, clearing his throat and adjusting himself to face the steering wheel. “I’ll make you a copy.”

Rey turned her attention back toward the glove box, the pressure in the car releasing as they came back to themselves, “Yeah. Good idea.” She grabbed her bag and rested her hand on the door latch, “Well, I better head on in.” she tossed her head toward the restaurant. “Thanks for the ride.”

He turned the engine and pressed his lips together in what Rey guessed was supposed to be a smile. “No problem.”

Rey returned the closed mouth smile. “I can take a look at my schedule for next week and call you with another time we can go over it again. I mean, if you want to.”

“No, yes. I want to do it again with you.” Ben caught himself and looked down at his lap, shaking his loose strands into his eyes. “Shit. Sorry.” He looked back up, not bothering to toss the hair, “I want to read the lines with you again.”

“Ok. Cool.” Rey willed her heart not to beat any faster than normal and twisted to step out of the car while Ben nodded in response, his cheeks still blushing from his previous blunder.

“Wait.” Ben ejected the CD and pressed it into the case before leaning over to hand it to Rey. “You should listen to the whole thing.”

“Thanks.” Her smile was more genuine and her dimples surfaced as she looked at him one last time.

Rey slammed the heavy door and Ben peeled out of the parking lot before she’d even walked to the back door. She took a deep breath as she reached for the handle.

_Rey Johnson, don’t you dare start crushing on Ben Solo._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are enjoying this fic, I’d love if you gave another one of my works a read.
> 
> [ Yoga Is For Hippies ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782273/chapters/57129187): Professional golfer Kylo Ren/Ben Solo finds a cute little yoga instructor to help him loosen his hips. Explicit. 23 Chapters. COMPLETE (My first fic!) 
> 
> [A Vineyard in Baal-Hamon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459019/chapters/59026630): Medieval/renaissance piece. Rey and Kylo/Ben are sexual slaves for King Snoke. Explicit. 5/? Chapters. Tagged for Non-Con. 
> 
> [Recollection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609530/chapters/64880041): Ben Solo has been missing, presumed dead, for over ten years. While shopping for her son's birthday dinner, Rey sees a ghost from her past. Explicit. 3/? Chapters. (Calling all passengers for the Pain Train. Whoot-whoot)
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter! [HouseholdReylo](https://twitter.com/HouseholdReylo)


	3. Backstage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey gets an unexpected visit at work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is still new and feeling very intimidated by all the big kids. Please leave me a comment or recommend it to a friend if you like it. Thanks so much!
> 
> If you think of a song that should go with this chapter's playlist, let me know in the comments.  
> [ Playlist ](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7iaSXLtgyuKWqxkNGpssDy?si=HuJnbfC8TM-JFNjbRe25kw)

Finding a summer job in her dinky little town had been more difficult than expected. The grocery store and the Dollar General told her she could reapply when she turned sixteen. Jobs at the ice cream parlor only went to the cheerleaders or their friends, and the greasy gas station attendant laughed in her face when she pointed at the help wanted sign.

Family-owned Libby Hill Seafood Restaurant was founded by Luke and Elizabeth Conrad in 1953, and with a dining room run by a hostess and a drive-thru, it couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a fast food joint or a sit down restaurant. There was a black and white photo of the founders standing in front of a much newer looking version of the building on the back of the plastic folded menus. Though it was a little dated, and still had a smoking section, the manager, Maz, was kind and efficient and Rey got a free meal with every shift. Plus, it was more a favorite among the five o’clock dinner crowd and not a place where Rey’s classmates might congregate.

With fifteen minutes left before closing, no one had come through the drive-thru in the last twelve. It had been a pretty slow night for a Saturday, though she’d still found several daydreams interrupted with a loud BEEP in her ear. With no orders to pass through the small window, Rey had started the nightly clean-up routine early. She had already wiped the counters, put all the small cups of house-made condiments that sat by her window back in the small refrigerator under the front counter, and swept the floor.

Rey leaned her backside against the duct taped, padded plunger that pushed the double doors of the small window open. It cracked open enough to allow a cool breeze to prick the sweat on her lower back. The last few nights had started to get cooler, summer really was gone, and it felt refreshing to fill her nose with the scent of sweet night air instead of the smell of stale oil that permeated the restaurant and her clothes.

She checked the clock again, fourteen minutes.

While she watched the waitresses busy themselves cleaning up their assigned stations, the front door chimed as a new customer entered the restaurant. She couldn’t see them from her corner, but she assumed that since the dining room had already been closed for fifteen minutes, they were here to pick up the last to-go order sitting in the window between the front counter and the kitchen.

“Pick up for Poe?” Rey’s co-worker, Wex, went to retrieve the Styrofoam box as Rey uncrossed her legs and jumped up. Rey peered around the corner of her nook to watch Poe nod as he pulled his worn leather wallet from is back pocket.

Jessika trailed in behind him, her hands in her back pockets, looking around the entry like she’d never been there before. Her eyes stopped on the red triple candy quarter vending machine Rey hadn’t seen refilled since she worked there. While Poe handed Wex his cash, Jessika approached the counter and pushed the little lever on the toothpick box and then picked up a crinkly strawberry hard candy from the basket next to the register. Wex’s till popped open while she stuck the candy in her pocket and looked up at the yellowing chipped plastic of the illuminated menu overhead.

Poe followed her gaze up at the board. “The key lime pie is also really good. My Gran used to bring me here every Sunday.” Poe accepted his change and directed his question at Wex, “Hey, can I get lots of that honey mustard you guys make?” He turned to look at Jessika over his shoulder, “It is so good. You’ll love it.”

Deciding it was time to come out of her hiding place, Rey stepped out from her corner and answered for Wex. “Sure. I’ll grab it for you.” She ducked down and pulled two family order sized cups of the special sauce out of the refrigerator. Rey felt the pressure to play it cool. She hadn’t really ever seen Poe or Jessika outside of school. Or even outside of play practice, for that matter. And even though her crush on him had basically dissolved, he was still a really cute, popular senior. She needed to let confidence rise above the fact that she was wearing the most unflattering green polo ever and that she smelled like old grease and tartar sauce.

She couldn’t stop the butterflies in her belly when he exclaimed, “Rey! I didn’t know you worked here!” He sounded genuinely happy to see her and even though she had no reason to think he wouldn’t, it still gave her a thrill to be recognized and have someone be pleased to see her. Especially someone like Poe.

Rey offered a little “yup” and stood, holding out the two plastic cups and shutting the fridge with her knee. “I started over the summer and they let me cut my hours when school started.” Poe leaned one elbow on the counter as he took her offering with a “Jackpot!”

He made himself more comfortable by crossing his feet as he leaned on the counter and popped open the lid on his chicken tenders, fries and side of coleslaw. He looked up at Rey while he popped a crinkle cut fry in his mouth. “What time do you get off? Looks like you guys are almost closed.” Poe eyed the empty, clean counters while he chewed and peeked around the back where a few waitresses were marrying the ketchups while another tossed old coffee filters in the trash.

Rey took the headset off her head and let it hang around her neck. She'd still be able to hear it if someone rolled through in the next seven minutes. “Soon. Drive-thru closes at ten.”

Poe nodded, his lips pursed as he considered his next words. “Cool, you should come with Jess and me to play hide and go seek at The Imperial when you get off.” Jessika nodded along in agreement with a few fries in her mouth that she had stolen from the now open container. Were they really inviting her to hang out with them? Like, now? The butterflies in her belly turned to an all-out rollercoaster at the thought. Be cool. Be cool.

Before Rey could answer their very flattering invitation, the door chimed again, and Rey instinctively felt annoyed. The kitchen was going to throw a fit if she rang an order up with five minutes left till closing. She looked past Poe, who turned at the noise as well, and found Ben Solo flicking his hair out of his eyes as he scanned the room.

Forget the roller-coaster and butterflies, a rocket prepared for ignition as he found her and took a step in her direction. A packet of papers hung from one hand at his side.

“Rey.”

Ten, nine, eight—

Her mouth fell open when he said her name, and Rey prayed that her gasp wasn’t audible. _God, he’s so hot. Has he always been this hot? He didn’t seem this hot yesterday._ In addition to his usual black t-shirt and black jeans, he had on an open black leather jacket, but not a greaser one. One that fell below his hips, had three buttons in the front, and had lapels -- something a detective from the 70s would probably wear.

He noticed all the eyes in the room staring at him, and his own eyes narrowed when it registered that Poe was among those people. And Poe was blocking his path to Rey. “Oh. You.”

Poe grinned wickedly. “Yes. Me.” He stood up straight and readjusted his brown leather motorcycle jacket. “Try to contain your excitement,” he turned from Ben to wink at Rey then looked back to Ben, “there are ladies present.”

Ben looked like he very much wanted to wipe the smirk off Poe’s face, his hands tightening around the bundle of papers enough to wrinkle the smooth white pages. He side-stepped Poe and laid the papers on the counter in front of Rey, quickly removing his hand. “I made you a copy.”

Seven, six—

Rey reached down timidly and used her fingernails to pull the papers from the surface that had been wiped down so many times the coloring had started to fade. “Thanks.” She glanced at him quickly and then back down at the papers, scared that if she looked at him too long, she’d swoon. “You didn’t have to get it to me so fast. I could have gotten it on Monday.”

Poe turned his body to watch the interaction, a glimmer in his eye and the hint of a smile on his face.

Ben put a hand in his jacket pocket then pulled it out before trying it again with the other hand, fidgeting and unsure of what to do with his hands without a cigarette to hold. He flicked his hair and looked from the counter, to Rey, and then down at his shoes. “I figured you’d want to start memorizing your lines.”

Rey held the papers across her chest with one hand like she was holding the Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper she’d had in elementary school and dared look at him from beneath her lashes. This was actually really nice of him, to bring it to her so quickly and bring it to her at work. Ben Solo was doing something nice for her. “Oh. Yeah. I do. Cool. Thanks.” Rey watched Ben as he settled on keeping both his hands at his sides in fists. “I don’t have the CD with me. I haven’t finished it yet.”

Shaking his head, he met her eyes though a curtain of black bangs. “No, no. You keep it as long as you want.”

Five, four—

Jessika stood shoulder to shoulder with Poe, popping fries in her mouth like popcorn as they watched Rey and Ben fumble through their awkward conversation.

His eyes were too dark, too deep, and Rey didn't know how to swim, so she looked down at the red tiled floor, soon to be hosed down and squeegeed for the thousandth time. “Cool. Thanks.”

Ben nodded and turned for the exit. Poe caught Rey’s eyes and held them while he smiled like the Cheshire cat. “Hey Ben?” Rey narrowed her eyes at Poe, suspicious. He continued to look at Rey with his devilish grin. “What are you doing tonight?” Ben turned but kept his hold on the half open door. Poe spun around and took a few steps toward Ben. “A bunch of us are headed to The Imperial for a little late-night game of hide and seek. Wanna come?” Ben was mid scoff when Poe added with a head toss in her direction, “Rey’s coming.”

He looked over his shoulder at Rey, who felt like the emperor who just discovered he wears no clothes.

Poe turned to look back at Rey too, “You’re coming, right?” All she could do was nod helplessly, her brain incapable of forming words as Ben Solo’s gaze immobilized her.

“So, what do you say?” Poe slapped Ben on his shoulder and deepened his voice. “Come fraternize with us common folk for a night?”

Ben stepped to the side, rolling his shoulder out of Poe’s hand and let the door close. He looked from Poe back to Rey who still stood like a deer in headlights. She was waiting with bated breath for his response. Not only was she being invited to hang out with the cool kids, Ben might also be there. And she definitely did not listen to the first disk of the White Album while she laid in her bed and fantasized about what it would have been like if he’d kissed her while they read lines in the car last night. No, she definitely didn’t do that.

“Uh. I guess so. Sure.” Ben tossed his hair and shrugged his shoulders, resuming the impassive mask of a teenager who didn't care about anything.

Three.

“Great!” Poe pulled out his keys. “Jessika and I will go ahead now and let Rose know you guys are coming. Ben,” Poe could hardly contain his glee, “how about you stay behind and bring Rey when she finishes up here?”

Two.

Ben looked back toward Rey, his eyes unreadable as he gave her statue-like body a once over. “Sure.”

One. Blast off!

_Huh, so that’s where the expression “over the moon” comes from._

Ben took a few steps backward and sat on a slatted bench against the wall and under several framed but yellowing newspaper and magazine reviews. Poe and Jessika left the building, their suppressed giggles making their way through the glass door as Ben leaned back, rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

Rey shoved the script next to her purse and wine-colored fleece hoodie. “I’m almost done. I shouldn’t be much longer.” Never had she wanted to get off work sooner. She looked around her area, mentally checking off all the things she was supposed to do before clocking out.

Ben shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever. It’s fine.”

Wex had already left the conversation he’d clearly not been invited into. He was returning with Maz, who was ready to count their tills and pass off on their cleaning jobs. She asked Rey to wipe down the front of the refrigerator, refill the napkins and paper cups next to her register, and drag the entry mat around the back for the kitchen crew to spray down.

After tossing her dirty rags into the laundry bin, Rey walked through the waitress’s station, through the dining room, and past the hostess stand to meet Ben’s gaze back in the front entry. She’d carefully avoided looking in his direction since she’d spoken to him and focused on finishing her tasks with efficiency. She could imagine him getting more and more annoyed the longer she took but when she looked up at him, he seemed perfectly content chewing on a toothpick.

He stood when she approached. She bent down and started to lift the heavy mat. A little groan involuntarily escaped her as she began to pull it. Ben flicked the toothpick into the trash, then stooped down to lift the other end. “Oh.” She let her arms rest with the mat still in hand. “You don’t have to help me. I’ll just take this out back and then we can go.”

“I don’t mind.” Ben didn’t let go of his end.

One of the chin-length strands of hair Rey had purposefully left out of her ponytail fell across her face and she blew it out of her eyes. “Ok. Thank you.”

Admittedly, it was much easier with two people, and Wex was already busy helping a cute waitress stack country-style oak chairs on the green tabletops. Rey tried her best not to make any more little noises of exertion, but as she led Ben back through the dining room, the kitchen, and out the back door, a few embarrassing huffs and puffs left her lips. They dropped the mat on the dirty pile next to the hose, Rey clapped the dirt off her hands, and looked up at Ben, “Thanks.”

His eyes followed her hands as she used the back of her jeans to wipe off the last of the dirt. “No problem.”

Ben followed her back through the same path, and it felt strange to have someone from school see this part of her life. It felt like she was letting him in on one of her secrets.

Ben stood silently in the dining room, his hands finding rest in both his jacket pockets as Rey ran back to grab her stuff, entering her code to clock out on the front register and interrupting Wex while he flirted with the waitress to tell him she didn't need a ride home.

She reminded herself that this wasn’t a date, that Ben wasn’t waiting in her living room for her to finish getting ready while dodging pointed questions from an overbearing father. That’s someone else’s life, not hers.

“Ready.” She stood in front of him with her hoodie zipped up to cover her polo, knit purse slung across her chest, and script in her hand. Her excitement bubbled up so much that she couldn’t keep her smile in check.

What could, maybe, be construed as the beginnings of a smile flashed across Ben’s face but was gone as quickly as it appeared. He let his head lead the rest of his body as he turned toward the exit.

Rey waited in the green glow of the restaurant sign, her hands in her pockets, the beginning of fall blowing her ponytail as she waited for Ben to unlock the car. He pulled open his door without using his keys and lifted his chin toward her. “It’s open.” He didn’t lock his car.

Taking her hands out of her pockets she pulled the door open with a squeak and sat on the cracked leather bench. It made an embarrassing noise as she leaned forward to pull the door shut, but when she glanced over at Ben he didn’t react.

He must have cleaned out the car’s ash tray that was overflowing with butts yesterday because it just held his loose driver license and a few coins now. A pine tree shaped air freshener hung from the rear-view mirror, and even though it didn’t completely mask the smokey scent, it helped distract from it.

As he pulled out of the parking lot, Rey tried to think of something to say. Bob Dylan resumed on the stereo when Ben had started the car, but Rey didn’t know any of the songs, and it felt redundant to try the “oh, what album is this?” thing they did yesterday.

A familiarity hung in the air between them, like hearing a song the second time through and anticipating the hook. Rey didn’t sit quite so far away on the bench and Ben let his arm rest on the back of the seat while he steered with one hand. With a few more scoots, she could be flush to his side and his arm could curve around her shoulder. They could go to the drive-in. They could order milkshakes. He could ask her to wear his pin.

“Thanks again for the copy.” Rey held up the pages that separated them on the bench.

Ben just glanced in her direction, nodded, and then looked back at the road. “You’re welcome.”

 _Way to kill the conversation with politeness, Ben_.

Rey tried again. She huffed a forced laugh. “Poe can be a bit—much, yeah?”

“Poe is a dipshit.” He stared straight ahead while the lights lining the street reflected off his surprisingly shiny and healthy-looking hair.

_What kind of product does he use?_

Not bothering with another attempt at conversation, Rey settled for an oddly comfortable silence. She picked up a few CD cases from the floor and scanned the backs in the light that filtered in through the windows.

_He’s got everything from Nirvana to Les Misérables._

“Take whatever you want.” Ben reached down between his legs and pulled up a loose CD from the worn carpet. “You should try this.” He handed her the CD, and she opened the Amadeus case in her lap and added the Flogging Molly CD.

When she saw the vertical, red sign that was outlined in bulbs and said “Imperial,” she started to cram three plastic cases into her purse. They pulled into the nearly empty parking lot beside the old brick building, and lights from the marquee mixed with the one parking lot light to illuminate a faded mural of movie stars like John Wayne, Marylyn Monroe, and Charlie Chaplin. Before the mall and movie theater in the next town over had been built in the eighties, this building served as the only theatre and cinema for miles. Rey had come here once with Finn’s church group to watch a silent film while a live pianist had accompanied the movie. It was cool.

After he slammed his door and pocketed his keys, Rey reached over and pushed the plunger down to lock his door. She then scooted herself back across the bench, tucked her overpacked purse under the seat, and slid out, locking her door before shutting it. Just because Ben played it fast and loose with his belongings, didn’t mean she had to. He watched her but made no comment, just flipped his hair then looked ahead.

As they met at his bumper, Phasma and Bazine pulled into the spot next to them. Ben didn't give them a second glance but stepped closer to Rey than he ever had as they walked toward the propped open metal door with a “stage door” sign that hung from a swirly iron rod bolted to the brick above it.

Hux held open the door for Ben, giving him a silent “Sup?” with his chin. Ben barely returned the movement as he strode through the door.

As soon as they were in the building, she could smell the buttered popcorn. Rey followed Ben down a patterned carpeted hallway toward the sound of teenage voices. Attached to the walls of the hallway were antique-looking, gold lights that reminded her of Lumiere. They glowed with little yellow lightbulbs to mimic candle flames. The two-story lobby had a huge chandelier that could have been something out of the Great Gatsby, which her art teacher had taught her was called art deco. Along the walls were a dozen framed, lit posters for black and white movies and documentaries that had and would play that year on the screen they lowered down in front of the stage. As she continued to look around, it felt like there were elements from the last fifty years all forced to coexist together: refreshment ads from the fifties; textured wallpaper from the sixties; bathroom signs with a groovy seventies font; and pink, white and black square tiles from the eighties under the new nineties arcade games.

Once all the kids had arranged themselves around the glass, candy-filled concession stand, Rose stood on top of a folding chair and put her hands to her mouth. “Guys! Guys!” The dozen or so teens stopped talking and turned toward the master of ceremony. Rey recognized some of them from the competition cast, but there were several she didn’t know.

“I’ll repeat the rules because I see some new faces.” Rose let her eyes dance over the crowd, resting a bit longer when she looked at Rey and Ben. They’d stayed close to each other, tethered to the familiar in an unfamiliar setting. Rose commanded the group. “Don’t break anything. The office and the basement are off limits.” She paused and looked pointedly over at Poe who held up his hands innocently. “Seriously, I’ll get fired if anything in there is out of place.”

Rose returned her gaze back at the crowd, “Once you are found you help the seeker find. The last person left hiding gets this,” Rose crouched down and then stood with a half-filled trash bag, “the leftover popcorn and one thing from the lost and found box.” Rose jumped down off the chair, “Since Jessika won last time, she’ll start as seeker. You guys ready?” Kids cheered or responded with “ready” as she walked toward the wall behind the counter.

Rey couldn’t help but feel juvenile, foolish. _Are we actually going to play hide and seek?_ She thought it was maybe a code name for a drinking game or, she didn't really know what, but she wasn’t expecting the actual school yard game. _And are we going to get in trouble for being here_? It didn’t sound like Rose’s employer was aware of this reoccurring game.

Looking up at Ben, he stood expressionless, his hands back in his pockets. He must think this is ridiculous. Rey attempted to quell her anxiety over breaking rules and put her own hands in her pockets, playing it cool, like Ben.

Rose flipped open an electrical box behind the empty popcorn machine, pulled the switch, and the entire building went dark, only a few lights from the street and surrounding businesses shone through the floor-to-ceiling front windows. Several flashlights clicked on as Jessika made her way to the concession counter. She turned around, folded her arms on the glass and laid her head down. “One, two, three—”

_Oh gosh, she’s actually counting!_

People started racing every which way through the lobby, giggles and screams captured by the thick red curtains that hung throughout. Rey saw some kids sprint down the seemingly endless hallways until the darkness swallowed them up. Some pulled open the heavy theatre doors and slipped through. Some raced up the curved grand staircase to the second level.

Rey stood there as all the lights in the room started to get further away. Before dashing off, Rose handed Rey a flashlight. “Here, I have an extra. Good luck!”

“Eleven, twelve, thirteen—”

Rey wasn’t sure how high Jessika would count, but the adrenaline started to pump through her body like it did all those years ago on the playground. Ben still stood, motionless, like he was trying to decide if he’d just leave— or grab the bag of popcorn and then leave.

Making a rash decision as Jessika neared twenty, Rey grabbed the cuff of Ben’s jacket and pulled him down an empty hallway. She had no idea where it led, or if they’d be hidden in time, but it felt exhilarating to run. A boost of that hypnotic feeling of freedom.

Slowing down, Rey tried a door, but it was locked. She crossed the hall, tried another knob, and it turned with ease. She used her shoulder to push the door open and pulled Ben’s towering frame through before slamming the door behind them.

Her chest rose with each new breath, and a laugh spilled out as she quickly covered her mouth. This was actually pretty fun. They both rested against the door, catching their breath as Rey shone the flashlight to examine the space. It was some kind of storage room filled with racks of clothing. Rey used the beam to shine light down on the first garment. It was a gown, something medieval looking. She slid the hanger along the rod to look at the next one. It was a poodle skirt. The next one was a police uniform. “These costumes look like they are for children,” she stared quizzically at the room full of costumes.

Ben rested his head against the back of the door with a thump and took a deep breath, as if he was still searching for the patience to participate in this ridiculous game. “The children’s theatre uses this stage for their fall and spring shows,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“Cool.” Rey was glad for the darkness as she turned to scan the room and smiled to herself. Rey suspected that Ben may have been in some of those shows.

Her light suddenly illuminated the whole room as it bounced across mirrors lined with bulbs. “Oh! It’s a dressing room.” Rey spotted a door at the other end of the room. “I wonder where that goes.” She pushed herself through the racks.

Ben hesitated, staying pressed to the entrance. Rey wondered how much he regretted accepting Poe’s offer to come. This really didn’t seem like Ben’s scene, running around in the dark with a random girl from school. Yet, he _had_ come. The adrenaline was still thumping through Rey’s blood, and she was emboldened to shine her light on Ben and tip her head toward the exit. “Don’t you want to see where it goes?” It really was like they were children, exploring a new place, nervous but excited about the treasures they may find.

The light moved off Ben and he took a step toward her, a new resolve settling over his features. Rey’s hand hovered over the handle for a moment before she twisted it. The door unlatched, and Rey swung it into the room, stepping into more darkness. The floor beneath her feet changed from linoleum to wood. The air changed too, and the sound of her footsteps echoed in a way that let her know the next room was much bigger. She shined the flashlight in front of her and reached out to touch the textured red curtain and pull it aside. “We’re on the stage,” Rey whispered to Ben who was now beside her. She shined her light to the side. Pulleys and ropes lined the wall.

She suspected that Ben knew exactly where the door would lead but he kept his mouth shut and let Rey uncover the mystery herself. Was she being annoying or endearing? Gosh, she hoped endearing. It still hadn’t escaped her mind that she was alone, on a dark stage, with Ben Solo.

She shined the light in his face, “What now?” Ben held up a hand to protect his eyes but Rey didn't linger with the light. “Let’s go out on the stage.” Rey tip toed through the curtains, but Ben grabbed her wrist keeping her from stepping into plain sight. Each of his fingers felt like it was leaving a brand on her skin. Her always cold hands could sizzle and steam from the addition of his heat.

“There might be someone out there.” Rey turned toward his strong grasp, delighted that he was actually going to play the game and downright desperate for him to hold more of her.

“You’re right.” She looked down at her other hand and clicked the flashlight off.

Together they peeked around the curtains to see if there were any lights in the auditorium. They stayed silent as they listened for any sounds of movement, their own bodies stilled beside each other, Ben’s hand still on her wrist.

Rey took a hesitant step forward and Ben released her. Rey clicked the light back on and handed it to Ben. It felt dangerous and thrilling to be where anyone could find her. Ben slowly stepped toward her, his head looking left and right several times to make sure they were alone.

Several more steps and she found herself center stage. The movie screen had been pulled up and she had a perfect view of the auditorium. What looked like the original proscenium arch framed the stage. The ceiling was covered in circle and square molding that interlaced and wove its way to the center, opening up for another chandelier. Instead of sharp angles and dark lines, this one was draped in lines of crystal beads, and as the lights from the flashlight hit all the little prisms, it cast rainbows across the red, threadbare seats. _Ok. It might be a little tired, and in need of a restoration, but this place was actually really cool. Why hadn’t she noticed before?_

Walking downstage, backlit by Ben’s ray of light, Rey stopped at the edge and curtsied, lifting a skirt that wasn’t there. She turned to the right and then the left, repeating the action. Then she motioned toward the missing orchestra pit, with one dramatic sweep of her arm, signaling to the absent audience that they must now applaud the conductor and his musicians. Rey stepped back a few steps, took the hands of imaginary cast members, raised them above her head, and lowered them with a bow at the waist.

A slow clap started to reverberate through the room along with a dark chuckle. “You’re ready for your Tony.”

Spinning around to face her one-man audience, Rey beamed in the spotlight, “What? Don’t you imagine what it would be like?” She turned back toward the empty seats, “To make it. To be on Broadway. To have them adore you. Love you.”

Before Ben could answer, they both heard voices behind the main door and dashed backstage. Rey headed back for the dressing room door, but Ben grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the back wall, behind all the piled-up set pieces. There was barely enough room between the painted brick wall and the last backdrop to fit a person, let alone an exceptionally wide person. Ben’s shoulders pushed the canvas into the others piled in front of it as he walked backwards in the hiding spot, pulling Rey deeper with him. Ben clicked the light as they stood silently, their chests a few inches apart. If she took a big enough breath, her breast might brush against his broad chest. She decided on slow, shallow breaths as she willed her heart to stop pounding so loudly, giving them away. Giving her away.

He didn’t let go of her hand.

“I swear I saw a light on in here.” A smooth voice drifted up from the aisle. It was Poe.

Jessika’s lighter voice answered, “I still can’t believe you got Ben Solo to come. He hasn’t hung out with us since like, eighth grade.”

Their voices were getting closer to the stage. “I know, right? But I’m telling you, there is something going on between him and Rey. Did you see the way they were looking at each other?”

Ben let go of Rey’s hand.

Rey had never been more grateful that her easily read features were covered in darkness.

“You think they’re doing it?” Jessika’s footsteps drummed on the hollow wood stairs that lead to the stage.

Poe must have jumped into the stage, the sound of a thump and then one step placed at a time rippled through the stage as he stood up. “No. Finn says she still a virgin. I don’t think they even know they like each other yet.”

Rey couldn’t decide if her anger at Finn outweighed the mortification that washed over her. She took a step backward, but Ben wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

“Did you hear that?” Rey twisted over her shoulder to see Poe and Jessika’s lights dancing across the ropes and pulleys.

“I did. I think maybe back here.” They started pulling the curtains back and forth in search of their prey.

Ben took a step in between Rey’s legs and carefully spun them so his black hair, black jacket, black pants, and black shoes were all that could be seen should someone shine a light down the crevasse. It was seamless, like a dance step.

Rey’s hands pressed into his chest as he leaned over her, covering her completely from view. Poe and Jessika’s voices got closer, practically on top of them. Rey held her breath and so did Ben. The seekers were still and quiet too, listening. This, all of this, was exhilarating, the fear of being caught, being held in Ben’s firm arms. It was a lot. She looked up at where his head should be and wondered what he might—

Rey let out a tiny squeak when his lips found hers.

Poe moved, “I think back here.” He shone his light down the gap. He must see them, he must. Rey stayed frozen, shocked at being found and unexpectedly getting her first kiss. There was a long pause and then, “No. No one back here.” Poe walked with heavy footsteps away, toward the auditorium. “Let’s try the balcony.”

Rey forgot to listen to Poe’s distancing steps when Ben pulled off her lips. He’d kissed her. Ben Solo just kissed her. It felt good. She wanted to kiss him again. She gripped the lapels of his jacket in her fists as he started to right himself, pulling him back down to her level. Her mouth pressed into his lips. They were soft. _Do all boys have soft lips?_ Her lips always felt so cracked and she pulled bits of skin off them with her teeth. Shoot. _Does he think I have rough lips?_

Rey pulled back, unsure how long a single kiss should last—only to find Ben slanting his head, his hair falling across her face, to dive in again. His hand around her waist tightened as he pressed firmer, hungrier kisses into her mouth. Rey parted her lips. She at least knew enough about kissing to know that eventually you’re supposed to open your mouth. As soon as she parted her lips, she could taste him. She was expecting something akin to a campfire but instead he was minty, like gum.

The slam of the auditorium door startled Rey and she pulled off his mouth, letting her heels come back to the ground. She sheepishly looked up into the face she couldn’t see and whispered, “I think they’re gone.”

“Yeah,” his low, gravelly voice answered as one hand moved up along her spine, resting behind her neck and tilting her head back up to him, “but we should probably stay here, just in case.”

“Good idea.” She closed her eyes as he planted another one on her. She pulled off enough for her lips to brush along his, “Just in case.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are enjoying this fic, I’d love if you gave another one of my works a read.
> 
> [ Yoga Is For Hippies ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782273/chapters/57129187): Professional golfer Kylo Ren/Ben Solo finds a cute little yoga instructor to help him loosen his hips. Explicit. 23 Chapters. COMPLETE (My first fic!) 
> 
> [A Vineyard in Baal-Hamon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459019/chapters/59026630): Medieval/renaissance piece. Rey and Kylo/Ben are sexual slaves for King Snoke. Explicit. 5/? Chapters. Tagged for Non-Con. 
> 
> [Recollection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609530/chapters/64880041): Ben Solo has been missing, presumed dead, for over ten years. While shopping for her son's birthday dinner, Rey sees a ghost from her past. Explicit. 3/? Chapters. (Calling all passengers for the Pain Train. Whoot-whoot)
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter! [HouseholdReylo](https://twitter.com/HouseholdReylo)


	4. Subtext

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben talk over AOL AIM. Get ready for some early 2000s internet nostalgia.

The screen door slapped behind her as Finn gave his two farewell honks from the end of her driveway. Rey didn’t bother announcing her arrival to her mom. She already noticed her car wasn’t parked in the gravel beside their trailer. Jodie was probably staying over at her current boyfriend’s place, or she’d picked up an extra shift.

After Rey’s father had left in seventh grade, Rey’s mom had been too broken to parent anymore; she needed Rey to be a friend, a confidant. They pretty much functioned as roommates at this point. Either she trusted Rey enough to take care of herself and make her own decisions, or she simply didn’t have it in her to enforce any rules. Rey came and went as she pleased, leaving notes on their shared whiteboard calendar about her shifts or rehearsal schedule.

The first thing she did once inside was push the power button on the computer tower that sat under the solid wood desk in the living room. The desk had been a Goodwill find, but the computer had been a gift from one of Jodie’s previous admirers. She suspected the chap had given them his old unit once he’d bought himself a newer model, but Rey wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially a horse with a built in CD burner.

While the machine booted up, Rey made her way down the narrow, wood paneled hallway toward her room, her footsteps echoing through the crawlspace below the carpet as she kicked of her chunky high-heeled sandals. She pulled off the ankle-length, tiny floral print dress and tossed it on her purple inflatable chair. After pulling on her Ren and Stimpy pajama pants, Rey searched for a clean spaghetti strap tank top from the basket of unfolded laundry on her dresser. She found a white one that had built in support and sighed in relief as she reached behind her back to unclip the bra she hardly needed.

Reveling in how much more comfortable she felt in the cotton than the polyester dress and underwire, Rey made her way back to the computer to unplug the phone line from the cordless phone base that was mounted on the wall next to the desk. Leaning over the whole desk and squeezing her arm into the narrow gap between the computer and the wall, Rey plugged the cord into the jack on the back of the tower. Using the mouse’s wire, she reeled it back in from wherever it had fallen behind the desk. While hunched over the desk, Rey clicked to start the dial up procedure and then stood straight up, her hands moving to massage a kink in her neck as she walked to the kitchen.

The screech of the modem pierced the entire trailer as it attempted several times to connect to the World Wide Web. Rey pulled open the fridge and stared inside, looking for inspiration. She made sure to always ask for the third Sunday of the month off so she could go with Finn to church, particularly so she could partake in the monthly Linger Longer after. She should be full after several plates of deviled eggs, tater tot casserole, and Jell-O salad, but she still felt snacky. After opening and closing several cupboards, Rey decided on a bowl of dry Marshmallow Mateys.

By the time she sat down in the wooden swivel chair, the computer was finishing its last attempt and connected to the internet. She picked a few marshmallows out of the bowl and popped them in her mouth while she pulled up AOL Instant Messenger and entered in her screenname and password: **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** and CoryTopanga4ever. She clicked the little green man that ran above the “Sign On” button. Her Buddy list appeared, and the sound of several doors opening creaked through her speakers.

Under **Buddies (4/34)** were a few screen names that didn’t grab her attention, a few kids from school and one of Finn’s church friends. There were no names under **Family (0/1).** Finn would be with his dad for several more hours ministering to the sick and afflicted. **Co-Workers (1/4)** had one, **2ndBreakfast** , but it was Beaumont, and she really wasn’t interested in another lecture about how JK Rowling was just stealing all Tolkien’s ideas.

The bowl of cereal was propped on her knees, her feet pulled up onto the seat as she stared at the screen, willing one of her friends to get online. She sighed, set the bowl on the desk, and stood to grab her backpack that leaned against the wall next to the front door. She had a history essay due Monday and figured she’d better get started on that.

The blue Jansport was plopped next to the desk chair before she pulled the bottom desk drawer open and rummaged for her Encyclopedia Britannica CDs. While the first CD whirled inside the drive, she unzipped her backpack and pulled out her history textbook. A single sheet of paper had been captured between its pages, and the edges that stuck out had become ripped and wrinkled from the hurricane that was the inside of her bookbag. The writing prompt was typed on the still crisp part of the paper. She was supposed to write a journal entry as if she was a Civil War soldier.

Word was launched. The textbook sat open on her lap. The digital encyclopedia was opened to “Civil War.” Rey typed “Dear Diary” and hit enter. Clippy popped up, “It looks like you’re writing a letter…” Rey clicked him away and continued. “Being a Civil War solider sucks. I do not recommend it.” She sat back and stared at the screen, smiling at her joke. She took a deep breath, leaned forward, and pushed the backspace button in rapid succession until it had all been deleted. She stared at the white screen, counting along as the curser blinked until her eyes crossed.

Closing her eyes tightly and then opening them, Rey stood and set the textbook on the ground. Music. Her brain needed music. Mozart. If it could make all those babies smarter, it might give her mind the jumpstart it needed to bust out this assignment.

Holding her pink, rounded boombox by the handle, Rey unplugged it from the outlet behind her dresser and took it back to the living room. She set it under the desk and crawled underneath to plug it into the power strip.

Her forest green, crocheted purse hung on a hook next to the front door, its long strap stretched by the weight of several CDs. Without taking it off the hook, Rey removed the Amadeus case and sat back in the seat. With her hands on his possession, it was harder to push back the memories that had been popping in her mind from the moment she woke up. Everything had been replying over and over: when he walked into the restaurant and his eyes found her, when he grabbed her hand, when he let it go.

No. She needed to focus. There was an essay that needed writing.

And music. She was going to listen to music.

Waking up her frozen hands, Rey set the CD into the boombox and pushed play.

The violins started to play as Rey lifted her textbook back into her lap and started to reread the section of her chapter titled: Impacts of War. After reading several pages, Rey looked up at the empty screen. Leaning over her textbook she typed: Today I watched my friend’s leg get blown off. Everyone is sick. My uniform is falling apart and the hardtack is…hard.

Putting the textbook back on the floor, Rey rolled her seat back and stood up. She folded her fingers and rested them on top of her head as she wandered around the living room. Maybe she needed a different subject. She usually finished her math homework before the period even ended. Her kinda hot English teacher, Mr. Kenobi, was decent enough never to assign homework on the weekend.

She could work on her lines.

_-when he’d pulled her flush to his hard body._

The script was tossed among the fashion magazines littering the coffee table in the middle of the room. She picked it up and sat back down in the squeaky chair, scanning the first page. Her eyes stopped at the bottom left corner. In his elegant handwriting was his phone number and several letters with— _Oh my God, he gave me his screen name!_

Gripping the pages, Rey sat up in her chair and rolled it closer to the desk. She used the mouse to click “info” and typed in the letters and numbers and then hit enter. Her excitement fell when his profile came up empty. No music lyrics or shout outs to any friends. Nothing.

Letting her face rest in the palm of her left hand, her elbow propped on the wood surface, Rey hovered the mouse back and forth between “IM” and “Add Buddy.” He might find it presumptuous of her to add him as a buddy before messaging him. Her finger clicked “IM” and a new window popped up.

Leaning back into her chair, Rey crossed her arms. What possible reason could she come up with for IMing him? She could ask about the scene. Or thank him again for the ride home.

_-when he pressed his lips to hers._

It couldn’t have actually happened. Just thinking the phrase “Ben Solo kissed me” felt absurd. Unlike one of her math proofs, it didn’t add up. Ben was a senior; she was a sophomore. Ben was cool, surly, dangerous; she still had Care Bear sheets. He’d probably had sex with tons of girls while she’d never even kissed someone. Well, until last night.

No, it simply wasn’t possible that he liked her, that he’d meant anything of it. It was just a thing of the moment. He’d been wrapped up in the thrill of the game. Scene partners. That’s all they were.

A fresh wave of anxiety pulled her hands back into her lap as she stared at the keyboard, willing it to type something witty, charming, or interesting.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Hey

_Crap._

The breath Rey was holding released when an away message popped up immediately after.

“ **PlyRdRnr1968** is away.”

_Oh, thank God._

Realizing that this was a mistake, Rey settled the little arrow over the X and clicked the window away. Hopefully he would just assume it was a “wrong number” situation.

As soon as the window disappeared another popped up with a ding.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Rey?

The rounded screen of the monitor seemed to ripple as she stared unblinking at his blue screen name.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Hi.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : This is my screen name.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I can see that.

_Dang it! Do I have to be such a loser all the time?_

She huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLy** t: Well, you can message me about the scene or whatever. I’m usually on for a few hours every day. Less on days that I work.

She had to stop this before she said anything else stupid.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Anyway, I’ll get to work on memorizing those lines. See you Monday.

_Yeah, that should do it._

Rey leaned back in her seat, swiveling it side to side, confident she salvaged a shred of dignity.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : How often do you work?

_Is he…Is he engaging with me? He was supposed to take the out._

Rey sat back up, her fingers hovering over the keyboard as she contemplated her next words. She could take a play from his book, give a quick answer, and end this conversation before it starts.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Usually four days a week.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Oh. Cool.

There were a few seconds after his response where Rey was certain he’d say “Ok, see you Monday.”

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Do you like it?

_What is happening? Am I IMing with Ben Solo?_

Rey closed an eye and scratched her eyelid, giving herself a minute to think about her answer. She let her cheeks puff as she let out a breath. She closed her eyes and rolled her neck back from right to left.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : The restaurant? Yeah, sure. It’s nice enough. I’m addicted to their ranch dressing. I could drink it.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I mean, working. Do you like having a job?

_Does anyone like having a job?_

Biting her lip, pulling at the lose flakes of skin with her teeth, Rey typed out a few responses before rereading her final answer and hitting enter with her pinkie.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Oh. Yeah. Who doesn’t like having money? Right? It’s just me and my mom so I try to lessen the burden on her a bit.

The hand-me-down desk was covered in stickers when they got it. Jodie had offered to make it a project of scrapping them off, sanding it down, and painting it any color Rey wanted. She’d declined the offer. She liked to imagine the little boy who’d eventually outgrown his Clifford and Ninja Turtle stickers and covered them up with more mature images like the Stussy S, Doom, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, an alien head, and a Bevis and Butthead. Rey picked at a green one that looked like a demented version of Mickie Mouse while she waited for his response.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : So, you buy all your own stuff?

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Pretty much. Shoes, clothes, movies, fast food. I’m trying to save up for a car though. I’m so sick of asking for rides.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I don’t mind giving you rides.

A small smile started to spread on Rey’s lips. She pushed her lips tightly together to stop it, knowing full well he couldn’t see it. She tucked her lose hair behind an ear and typed.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Oh. Thanks.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I don’t want to impose though

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : You aren’t. It’s on my way home.

She started to chew a fingernail on her left hand.

_Settle down. He’s just being polite._

_…because Ben Solo is so polite._

There was a hesitation before his next message came through.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Sorry if the car was a bit smokey

Her fingers flew out of her mouth to quickly respond.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : No, no. It was fine.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I liked the air freshener.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I can try not to smoke in the car if it will make you feel more comfortable.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : No. You don’t need to do that. It’s your car. Do whatever you want.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : So, you’ll ask me for rides when you need them?

It was hard not to let giddiness take over her entire brain function as she realized Ben Solo wanted to help her.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Yes, I will ask for rides.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Cool

Her thumbnail slid under the green sticker again, pulling a bit more of it up while she thought.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : So, what kind of car is that anyway?

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : It’s a 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : It was my grandfather’s.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Oh! Your screenname.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Yes.

A benevolent grandfather appearing out of the woodwork to bestow her with extravagant gifts would be excellent right about now. Until then, it was more hours slinging fried shrimp.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : What kind of car do you want to get?

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Oh, I dunno. One that runs. Lol.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : What is lol?

 _Seriously, Ben?_ Her eyes rolled quickly as she explained the minutia of internet slang.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Laugh out loud

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Oh. 

She reveled in knowing something he didn’t, having the upper hand for the briefest of moments.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Maybe I could help you look for a car.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : When you’re ready to buy one.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Well, I have to turn 16 first but that would be really nice of you.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : You know me, nice is my middle name.

A snort and an unsuppressed grin. Ben Solo made a joke.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : lol

The next message sat in her text box but she didn’t press send. She pulled the sticker up a bit more, enough to see that there was a Garfield one underneath. She smiled at another hidden treasure. _There’s no reason to cover up Garfield, dude. He’s a funny cat._

Looking back at the screen, Rey clicked her mouse and the message sent.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I think you’re nice.

When he didn’t respond, she worked her fingers quickly to explain further.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : You gave me a ride to work, you brought me my script, you saved me from Poe.

Her hands fell together in prayer as she squeezed them between her thighs. She hunched her shoulders over the keyboard and waited for his response, doing her best not to hold her breath.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Saved you from Poe?

_Oh my God, is he going to make her spell it out?_

She’s already this far in, might as well keep going. Her right hand lifted and typed the response one-handed, pecking one letter at a time.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** During the game.

Using both hands, she continued.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** He would have found me if you hadn’t…you know.

Now would be a good time to pull up Yahoo and research possible schools she could transfer to because there was no way she was going to be able to face him on Monday. She covered her face and groaned, only peeking through her fingers when his response dinged.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : You think I kissed you because of Poe?

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** Oh. Um. I don’t know.

Really, she didn’t. The puzzle had been twisting and turning in the back of her mind since last night, trying to slot into place with no success.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** Why did you kiss me?

Her fingers typed and sent the message before she could stop them, her exhausted subconscious eager to be done with this unanswered riddle.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Why did you kiss me back?

A breath left her mouth with a noise similar to her affronted Lady Bracknell. She looked down at her fingers while she typed and then looked back up at the screen as she hit enter.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** I asked you first!

The seconds ticked by but he didn’t respond. Rey set a foot on the chair and rested her chin on her knee, picking more at the sticker. Maybe he wouldn’t. She got it all the way off the desk without ripping it and pulled open the top draw on the right to lay it gently on top of the others.

Ding.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I wanted to know what you tasted like.

Something twisted deep in her belly and her eyes widened.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** And?

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Lemonade

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** 😊 I was drinking pink lemonade all night at work. 

**QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** You tasted like mint.

The kiss -- kisses -- replayed in her mind, and she closed her eyes as she relived the taste of him in her mouth. He hadn’t used any tongue, which had surprised Rey. She assumed he’d be one to take without asking, delve into her mouth and demand her surrender.

But no, though his grip on her had been firm and insistent, his mouth hadn’t. He’d eaten his meal eagerly, but not sloppily, pausing to ask for more after each course. And she’d been happy to give him his fill. He’d moaned as she pressed her chest into his and wound her fingers in his hair, letting herself be devoured.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Your turn to answer the question.

Her eyes popped open. Using the hair tie around her wrist, Rey threw her hair up into a quick messy bun, cooling her warmed neck.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** Oh.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** Right

She put her finger back in her mouth and pulled off a nail. Her fingertips drew it from between her lips and dropped it on the ground.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** I guess because I was curious

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Curious?

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** Well

The tips of her toes swiveled the chair slightly from side to side.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt: P** lease don’t make fun of me.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I will not make fun of you.

Her knuckles cracked as she pushed one fist into the opposite palm.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I was curious what kissing was like.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Rey

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Was that your first kiss?

Squinting, as if she could shield herself from looking at the answer she knew was coming, Rey wrinkled her nose at her own response.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt:** Sorta.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I played spin the bottle once in 8th grade but it was just a peck and it was Finn who is like my brother so I’d really like it to not count.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Yeah, that doesn’t count.

The skin on Rey’s bottom lip was close to breaking as she worried it between her teeth.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Are you mad?

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Why would I be mad?

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Are you mad?

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : No!

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I dunno, maybe because I didn’t tell you beforehand?

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Did you think I was going to kiss you?

She’d sooner expected him to levitate objects with his mind.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : No

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Then there was no reason for you to tell me beforehand.

He’d successfully logic’d her into a corner. She’d hate to go up against him in debate.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : If you had known, would you have…

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Kissed you?

Gosh darn it, every time he acknowledged that it had actually happened, her stomach fluttered.

_Get a grip._

**QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Yes

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I would still have kissed you.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Albeit, maybe gentler.

The chair spun in a full circle before her feet stopped her and she grinned at the computer like a complete idiot.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : So, you don’t regret kissing me?

She rested her elbows on the edge of the desk, her chin in her cupped hand as the chair scooted further back.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Ha. No.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I’d kiss you right now if you were here.

The chair rolled back, too far back for her butt to stay in it, and Rey fell to the ground. Giggling to herself and feeling flushed in the cheeks, Rey got back onto her hands and knees and made to stand up. She was too far under the desk and bonked her head on the wood. Giving up, she laid on her back and stared up at the underside of the desk, tears from the pain of her injury mixing with her full-on laughter at her idiocy, at the situation she now found herself in; dissecting her make-out session with Ben Solo, _with_ Ben Solo.

Looking up, Rey noticed something she’d never seen before. The entire underbelly of the desk had curse words carved into it. Some deep, like they’d been whittled away with a pocket knife, and some just scraped, like a pen or nail had permanently marked the grain. Her fingers traced along the F word. Cursing had never been her thing but she felt connected to the secret adolescent outbursts.

She tried it out in her mind.

_Fuck._

“Fuck.” She whispered though her lips.

Giving herself permission to try it a little louder, Rey yelled, “Fuck!” Her hand covered her mouth as she smiled into it. Fuck was right. What was she supposed to do with herself knowing that Ben Solo was sitting at his house, wishing he could kiss her? This man was going to be the death of her.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Rey?

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I’m here

Kneeling on the floor, the keyboard at her chest, Rey licked her lips and responded.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I just don’t know how to respond to that

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Do you regret kissing me?

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : No!

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : I’d like to kiss you again.

Still on the floor, Rey let her head rest on edge of the table, the hard dig of the corner into her forehead a welcomed distraction from the pounding in her heart. She took a deep breath and then looked up, reaching back behind her to roll the seat back in place before taking her seat again.

Several possible scenarios played through her mind, possible scenes where they’d play the romantic leads: in his car, on a Ferris wheel, drenched to the bone in the rain.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I think that could be arranged. 😉

The bowl of dry cereal was still next to the monitor. Rey shoved a handful into her mouth, the childish cereal making her doubt her attempt at seduction.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : OMG, please disregard my attempt at flirting.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Ha. You’re funny.

She swallowed and popped a few more marshmallows in her mouth, her lips quirking up at the corners.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Funny, haha? Or funny, the men in white coats are coming for me?

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Maybe both.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : But I like it.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I like you too

_Oh fuck._

**QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I mean

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : I liked hanging out with you.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Rey, relax. I like you.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Poe may be a dick but he was onto something.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Yeah?

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : Yeah.

 **QikrThnAReyOfLyt** : Ok. Cool.

 **PlyRdRnr1968** : So, have you had a chance to listen to the CDs? 

Rey and Ben talked for hours.

The new millennium had brought a new form of communicating. It was instant, but safe. You could reveal your deepest secrets, be vulnerable, without looking someone in the eye, or hearing your own voice quiver. The acronyms, the emojis, or the subtitle meaning behind how many seconds passed between each ding, would shape the way a new generation formed relationships.

Waiting for Ben to respond, Rey could practically hear him mulling over his carefully chosen words. Rey had no such self-control. She’d hit enter before giving her eyes a chance to reread her message. Occasionally she’d gasp and almost reach out to try and take the words back, but Ben never teased or belittled her.

They talked about everything. The refrigerator hummed while they shared favorite music, tv shows, books. Rey refilled her bowl of cereal while he typed out song lyrics that “spoke” to him. She told him her bucket list of places she wanted to visit and how she wanted to make a wish in the Trevi Fountain in Rome. He listed off all the things he’d restored on his RoadRunner while she painted her toenails purple.

The stories about his dad’s younger days made her actually laugh out loud.

She cried while she typed out the details of her dad leaving.

He said he’d bring his lighter, a knife, and rope to a desert island. Rey said she’d bring a five-pound bag of gummy bears, her Teddy Ruxpin, and sunscreen.

They agreed that chocolate was the best ice cream flavor but disagreed on whether the beach or mountains was better. Rey preferred beach. Ben voted mountains.

Rey told him about Finn, about that first invitation on the bus, about church camp. She waxed poetic about what a good friend he was to her and how he was the closest thing she had to a brother.

She asked him what his favorite subjects were. He said English, no surprise, and history.

He asked what her favorite Christmas present was. She told him about her Barbie RV.

It was dark outside by the time she finally signed off. The empty pot of mac and cheese she’d made herself for dinner sat on the floor next to her boombox. The computer shut down and went silent. The glow of the monitor had been the only light in the room, and Rey shuffled to the kitchen to turn on the light above the sink. She pulled a carton of ice cream out of the freezer and dug in with a clean spoon from the drawer.

While she rested against the counter, a spoonful of rocky road in her mouth, she considered the hours she’d just spent getting to know Ben Solo. It was hard to believe that 48 hours ago she’d been intimidated to even approach him. It was even harder to imagine seeing him at school on Monday. How as she supposed to face him after having told him she still checks for monsters under her bed? Would he still seem so menacing after learning that he could name all seven brides for all seven brothers?

The spoon was upside down in her mouth as her tongue licked the last of the chocolate off. School was going to be weird.

_Shoot. School._

There was no way she was going to be able to focus on the Civil War tonight. She held one last spoonful between her lips as she used both hands to put the lid back on the carton and set it in the freezer. She’d just have to set her alarm and write it in the morning.

Her confused reflection stared back at her while she brushed her teeth.

_Ben Solo. BEN SOLO._

Friday was the first time she’d spoken more than ten words to Ben Solo. Last night she’d kissed him. Today she told him she liked him and then proceeded to tell him anything and everything about herself; things she’d never even told Finn. In forty-eight hours, she’d gone from only knowing the rumors kids whispered about him behind his back, to knowing the real reason he’d gone to juvie.

What did this mean? Were they a _thing_ now? Would they hold hands in the hall and sit together at lunch? Should she meet him at his locker before homeroom?

She spit in the sink and then continued brushing. Her eyebrows were knit together as she spoke around the toothbrush still in her mouth to the quizzical looking girl in the mirror, “Well, I don’t know!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are enjoying this fic, I’d love if you gave another one of my works a read.
> 
> [ Yoga Is For Hippies ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782273/chapters/57129187): Professional golfer Kylo Ren/Ben Solo finds a cute little yoga instructor to help him loosen his hips. Explicit. 23 Chapters. COMPLETE (My first fic!) 
> 
> [A Vineyard in Baal-Hamon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459019/chapters/59026630): Medieval/renaissance piece. Rey and Kylo/Ben are sexual slaves for King Snoke. Explicit. 5/? Chapters. Tagged for Non-Con. 
> 
> [Recollection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609530/chapters/64880041): Ben Solo has been missing, presumed dead, for over ten years. While shopping for her son's birthday dinner, Rey sees a ghost from her past. Explicit. 3/? Chapters. (Calling all passengers for the Pain Train. Whoot-whoot)
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter! [HouseholdReylo](https://twitter.com/HouseholdReylo)


	5. Encore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another manic Monday.

Getting dressed should not be this hard. Why did all of her clothes suddenly look so hideous? After tossing yet another t-shirt onto her bed, Rey settled on a baby blue tank top hoping the horizontal navy blue and white lines across the middle made her boobs look bigger.

*

“You look nice.”

Hopping into Finn’s little yellow truck that was missing the “T” and the second “O” in “Toyota” on the tailgate (but still had a little metal fish attached to the back), Rey zipped up her fleece on the chilly school morning. “Thanks.”

Putting the truck in reverse, Finn glanced over at Rey before checking the rearview mirror. “Are you wearing makeup?”

Catching herself in the side mirror, Rey double checked that her attempt at a smokey eye didn’t make her look like a raccoon. The article in Seventeen magazine had laid it out step by step, but her mom’s liquid eyeliner was a bit dried out and hadn’t gone on as smoothly as she’d hoped.

Her response was a bit more defensive than it needed to be. “Yeah, so?”

As the rust bucket of a truck backed onto the road, Finn lifted his fingers as he held onto the steering wheel and tried to avoid angering the hormonal teenage-girl. “Nothing. You just don’t normally wear makeup.”

“I’m allowed to look nice sometimes.” Rey folded her arms and stared out at the road. She knew she was being ornery to innocent Finn, but she was just so gosh darn nervous about seeing Ben at school.

“Okay. Okay.” Finn flipped on the radio as “Kryptonite” started to play from the buzzy speakers. He looked over at Rey, testing the waters. “Do anything interesting last night?”

Her straightened hair, which was being held back in a claw-like headband, whipped in her face as she looked back at Finn. She reminded herself that there was no way he could have known. At church they hadn’t really had a moment alone to talk about anything other than the sermon on the mount or who had signed up for the service project. He’d had no reason to ask how her Saturday had been, as far as he knew, she’d been at work and then gone home to bed.

Going for casual, Rey leaned her elbow on the window and rested her chin on her fist as she looked out at the morning traffic. “Oh, no, not really. Just watched _The Simpsons_ and _Futurama_ and made mac and cheese.”

Finn laughed, giving her a disbelieving glance. “We both know that’s not what you did.”

In the passenger window, Rey saw her eyes widen in the reflection as she sat back up.

“You watched _Touched by an Angel_ and you know it.”

Laughing along with Finn, Rey relaxed as he poked fun at her. “Oh, shut up.”

As he turned the stereo louder, he yelled, “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

*

The straps of her backpack kept getting tighter as she held onto the loose ends with both hands. Metal slammed against metal as kids shut opened their lockers. Chatter filled the halls as students quickly copied homework, greeted their friends, or scarfed down the rest of their breakfast while they waited for the bell to ring. Someone called Rey’s name from a side hallway full on loitering teenagers.

Turning toward the sound, Rey saw Jessika looking at her own reflection from a mirror on the inside of her locker door. She held a mascara wand in one hand and the matching tube in the other.

“Hi, Jessika.”

Finn followed Rey on the detour, obviously curious as to why a girl Rey hardly talked to outside of play practice was summoning her.

“Hey, girl.” Jessika pumped the wand into the mascara tube. She pulled it out and applied yet another layer of goop to her lashes, making it look like spiders were resting on her lids. Her words were distorted as she held her mouth in an “O.” “Saturday was fun, yeah?” Jessika looked away from her mirror and wagged her eyebrows at Rey.

Finn looked quizzically at Rey, but she brushed aside is furrowed brows.

“Yeah, that was really cool. Thanks for inviting me.”

Jessika screwed the wand back into the tube as she inspected her work in the mirror. “That stage is sick, right?”

Nodding more than was needed, Rey rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet as she silently prayed Jessika wouldn’t say anything about Ben. “Yeah, it was da bomb. I’ll have to go back and see a show there sometime.”

Her mascara was exchanged for a tinted lip-gloss that made her lips look sticky and wet. Jessika smacked her lips together as she gave Rey a self-satisfying grin. “Yeah, I’m curious what you’ll think of it in the light.” 

The bell rang.

Jessika put the lip-gloss in a clear make-up bag with “Whatever” printed across the front and then slammed her locker shut. Smirking to herself, Jessika shouldered her bag and headed for homeroom. “See you after school, Rey.”

After a pathetic wave and a “later,” Rey was walking in the opposite direction with Finn already nagging her. “Since when are you friends with Jessika Pava? And where did you go on Saturday night? I thought you had to work.”

They weaved through a sea of students all rushing to their first destination of the day. “Poe and Jessika stopped by the restaurant just as it was closing and invited me to play hide-and-seek at The Imperial.”

“Oh.” She could hear the disappointment in his voice. “Cool.”

Dodging a lunatic who was sure to get his skateboard confiscated, Rey tried to appease her excluded friend. “I think they just felt sorry for me or something. It was no big—”

Her voice trailed off as they entered the quad. Unless Ben was taking his time, skipping homeroom to finish a cigarette at his car, he should be passing through the hub of the school any moment. It wasn’t that she purposefully kept track of his morning schedule, he was just a noticeable kid.

Running her hands over the top of her head to make sure her hairs were all in place, Rey completely tuned out whatever Finn was saying.

Would he say hi? Maybe wave? He wasn’t expecting her to kiss him good morning or anything like that, right? They had yet to DTR: determine the relationship. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted. She’d never had a boyfriend and reconciling the Ben she knew from last Friday with the Ben she went to bed grinning about last night—that was going to need some time.

His mop of dark hair was the first part of him that she saw through the hive of swarming students, then his pronounced nose and full lips, but not his eyes. His eyes stayed on the ground, completely apathetic to the bustle of teenagers around him. The grey and black flannel he had draped over his increasingly broad shoulders fluttered open over a white t-shirt. He was definitely giving off Jared Leto from _My So-Called-Life_ vibes and Rey considered buying him a cord necklace to complete the look.

As they got closer to crossing paths, Rey took a deep breath and put on her cheeriest smile. She opened her mouth to say “Hi, Ben,” but never got the chance when he walked straight by her. She looked over her shoulder to watch him walk down another hallway without a second thought.

“Rey—Rey!” Finn pulled her arm to keep her from walking into a pillar. She looked back at Finn, mystified. “You gotta watch where you’re walking. What were you looking at?”

“Oh nothing,” she blinked back from her daze and refocused on her friend’s admonishing face, “Sorry. What were you saying?”

Finn wrapped one arm around Rey’s shoulders and pointed at the painted banner the cheerleaders were hanging up across the glass windows of the cafeteria. “I said, I can’t believe they are trying to get us hyped for a football game that’s like a month away.”

“Well, it’s not just the game,” Rey answered absently, her mind still on her jilting, “there’s the dance and they have to sell tickets and figure out how many chaperones and cookies they’ll need.” Rey looked back over her shoulder once more, over Finn’s arm, but of course, Ben was already out of sight.

*

School went along as school usually did. Her brain went on autopilot as she nodded along to gossip from her friends; solved sine, cosine, and tangent equations; and took detailed notes during a movie about the human brain. She was doing a great job keeping herself too busy to think about Ben Solo until he walked by her table in the cafeteria on his way to the senior patio.

The rest of the afternoon was less successful, Rey drifted off into daydreams of her and Ben while she chewed on her pen cap. Her elbow slipped off the edge of her desk when her biology teacher awoke her from a fog involving Ben’s hair by yelling, “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell!” She may have even washed her hands twice in the bathroom while wondering if he moisturized his lips.

*

After school, Rey sat on her black ramp and pretended to care about whatever the students were complaining about while they waited for rehearsal to start. She restrained herself from looking toward the sound of each opening door as students arrived from multiple directions to the auditorium. When Ben finally did arrive, he paid her as much attention as he had at the last rehearsal, which was to say, next to none. In fact, it felt like he was purposefully not looking at her. Rey swept aside the hurt, convincing herself that she could not care less who Ben Solo did or did not look at.

When Mr. Skywalker called everyone to order from center stage, he had two new faces at his side. Both of the students were completely goth—no, punk—no, she’d heard people call it “emo” lately. The tall and skinny one wore a Marylin Manson t-shirt, pants that he must have borrowed from Edward Scissor hands, and a wallet with enough chain to lower an anchor into the Mariana Trench. His black hair, pale skin, and lined eyes matched his companion: a small girl who, even with platform boots, only came up to his chest. The short companion wore a purple and black plaid school girl skirt that was much shorter than the dress code allowed, a white tank top, a men’s tie, a spiked choker, and a dozen leather cuffs and bracelets around her wrists.

“Guys, this is Artoo and Threepio. They’ll be running lights for us.”

Before Rey could even form the question in her mind the tall one answered it for her in a royal British accent. “We don’t conform to the Western patriarchy’s use of recycled Judeo-Christian names and have instead chosen our own.”

Poe, having missed the introduction, approached the stage and offered the lanky teen a high-five. “Threepio, dude, whassssup?” He let his tongue hang out and shook his head as his hand hovered in the air.

Threepio looked at Poe’s hand with distain.

“Ok, ok.” Poe rubbed his un-slapped hand through his hair. “I’ll catch you next time.” He turned to join the gaggle of actors, shooting Jessika finger guns while Phasma groaned, “You are such an idiot.”

“Artoo and Threepio are going to be testing out a few lighting queues while we finish up our blocking.” Mr. Skywalker sighed like only an underpaid teacher could sigh after a day of dealing with exasperating teenagers. “Try not to get distracted while they work through the lights.”

“We’ll have to be careful if the lights go out. Who knows what could happen?” While Rose teased, Jessika and Poe shared a smile and then both turned to wink at Rey.

Catching the exchange, Finn wrinkled his bows in question from across the stage. Rey just shrugged an “I don’t know” back while the rest of the kids took turns joking about what could possibly happen while the lights were out.

But she knew. She knew exactly what they were hinting at. Of course Poe had seen them, and of course he’d told Jessika, maybe even Rose. Their little exchange in front of Jessika’s locker that morning made even more sense.

She did not look at Ben. There was no way in hell she was going to look over at Ben.

“When you guys are ready to start,” Mr. Skywalker cut off the chit-chat, “turn to the top of page 39. We need the principle and Josh, and then,” the teacher flipped two pages, “we need Phasma and Fives as Mom and Dad.”

The three students stepped forward while everyone else took a seat on a piece of set or the floor. “Who is the principle?” The director flipped to the front of his binder to check the call sheet.

“You haven’t assigned anyone yet,” Ben lazily offered the comment before Mr. Skywalker got to the list.

The director looked at his list. “I haven’t assigned it yet.”

Ben rolled his eyes.

Mr. Skywalker looked up to survey his limited choices. “Um, Rey.” Rey’s pulse quickened as her name was called. “Will you play the principle?”

“Yes, of course.” Rey stood up and took a few steps to center stage, finding herself feeling quite small next to Phasma.

“You look like Danny Devito next to Phas, Rey. You guys could do a fem version of Twins.” Hux looked gratified with his snide remark as he slid his cell phone into his front pocket and picked up his script.

Rey was quick to respond. “Yeah, and who’s going to play your twin, Carrot Top?”

Ben choked—or coughed—it was hard to tell.

“Children.” Their teacher was close to raising his voice as he closed his eyes and took a slow breath.

Phasma and Rex took a few steps to the side to allow Rey and Ben the spot light.

“Hi Emily. Hi Josh.” Rey kept her eyes buried in the pages.

“Hi.” Both Ben and Bazine—who was lazily leaning up against a ramp with one arm resting over a bent knee as she drew an eye on her ankle with a Sharpie—answered.

Trying for authoritative, Rey glanced up from her lines and was grateful Ben had his face turned from her. “May I speak with you in my office, Josh?”

“Sure.” Ben embraced the surly teen physicality, his shoulder hunched as he dug his hands into his pockets and tossed his chin in Bazine’s direction. “See ya, Emily.”

Mr. Skywalker interrupted, walking across the stage. “So Rey, you’ll walk down stage and motion for Ben to follow you. Let him walk in front of you like you’re standing in the doorway and then pantomime closing the door behind you. You’ll need,” he pulled the pencil from behind his grey hair and made a few notes in his script, “two blocks. Jessika, Cody, when you finish the courtroom scene, move your blocks over here so they’ll be ready for Rey and Ben.”

“Sure thing boss.”

Jessika looked over at Cody to find him using a laser pointer to make obscene gestures on an unsuspecting Bazine. “Ugh, Cody, you’re a pig!”

Jessika, who was sitting within shoving distance, scoffed in disgust and knocked a chuckling Cody off his ramp, adding, “You’re going to permanently damage someone’s retina with that thing.”

The teacher cleared his throat and Cody put the laser pointer away.

Mr. Skywalker looked back at Rey and Ben who were both staring at the floor. “Just stand for today.” He waved as he looked back at his script, “You may continue.”

They did the blocking, just as he’d laid out. Rey gulped as Ben brushed past her body, pretending to enter her office.

“Have a seat.” Rey held out her hand at nothing and then pretended to look at her imaginary desk as she walked around it.

She was forced to look up and finally lock eyes with Ben as he positioned himself in front of her. Suddenly the cup of doubt she’d been carefully carrying around all day started to overflow and spill all over the black painted floor.

“Thanks.” For a moment, his mask fell and he wasn’t Josh, he was Ben, and he really looked at her.

“Anything you want to say to me, Josh?” The question hung heavy between them and noticing how well it worked for the scene, Rey used it. She thought about how he’d ignored her that morning, in the cafeteria, and thus far at rehearsal. She hadn’t done anything wrong and it was really starting to get on her nerves that he would act like nothing had happened between them.

“Didn’t _you_ want to talk to me?” His obnoxious reply truly made her angrier.

“I was hoping you’d come to your senses and have something to say to me.”

_For goodness sakes, Ben, you can’t tell a girl you like her then act like she doesn’t exist!_

Suddenly, the stage lights went completely dark and all the teenagers acted like toddlers. Finn made a ghost noise, which got a few laughs, Fives howled like a wolf, and then a few beeps started to come from Rose. As the lights were slowly brought back up, Hux leaned over to nonchalantly ask, “Is that a Tamagotchi?

“Uh, huh.” Rose was focused on pushing the three little buttons on the blue egg. “I found it in my old clarinet case. I thought I lost it.”

As the light changed from warm to cool, the teacher cracked his neck and closed it eyes. “Rose, please put the toy away.”

Obliging, Rose tucked the toy back into her jeans. “It’s not a toy, he’s my pet and he was hungry.” She winked back at Hux and they shared a conspiratorial look.

Mr. Skywalker looked up like he was praying to whoever was the Saint of patience.

The lights grew dim around everyone else as they grew brighter over Rey and Ben. Suddenly feeling exceptionally hot, Rey took the momentary loss of control to remove her fleece hoodie and toss it off the stage. Ben’s eyes flashed when he turned back from the rowdy students to find Rey suddenly showing a lot more skin. He looked her up and down, lingering on the gap of midriff that was exposed above her chunky belt. He licked his lips and cleared his throat while the director instructed them to continue.

After their scene, Rey joined the rest of the cast and they trudged through more blocking. With the distraction of the ever-changing lights, they didn’t make it to the end of the play before Mr. Skywalker called it for the day. He gave them a few notes while they packed up their things and then reminded them to work on their scenes for the alumni event.

_Dang it._

She forgot there was still an entire scene to rehearse with _him_. Maybe he would just keep ignoring her and she could tell Mr. Skywalker she was sorry, but it just wasn’t working out.

While she put her script into her backpack, Finn turned back to Rey as he was following Poe out the door and asked if she needed a ride. She yelled back that she just needed to grab her sweater and that she’d meet him outside.

The house lights were off but with a few stage lights still on, she was able to find her jacket quick enough. She took a moment as she realized she’d been the last one left in the room, to enjoy the silence and the stage. She looked up at where she’d been standing moments ago and thought, “this is really happening.” The scene was only two pages, but Rey was grateful for the additional lines and time center stage.

As she circled back to the stairs, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into the dark alcove of an emergency exit. Rey’s heart jumped into her throat as the someone pushed her up against the wall and pinned her there with his mammoth body. An eager mouth immediately locked onto hers and kissed her good and hard.

Using both her hands, she pushed against his chest until he broke off long enough to growl, “I’ve been wanting to do that all day.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Rey smacked at his shoulder. “You can’t just ignore me all day and then—and then—.”

Changing tactics, Ben went for her neck, pinning both of her biceps to her sides with his strong hands as her words stuttered to a stop and her body went limp under the force. Rey had never _necked_ with a boy— _gosh she was such a grandma_ —but this felt amazing, his soft lips worshiping on her sensitive skin. He kissed his way from her shoulder to her ear and then back again, and then finally sucked, hard.

Rey had never really understood hickeys. _Someone just sucks on your skin so hard it leaves a bruise—why would anyone want that?_ Now she understood. She pulled her arms free, wrapped them around his neck, and breathed out little moans that echoed in the recess.

His fingers started to trace the gap of skin that was exposed between her tank top and pants. He gripped her waist and let his thumbs sneak beneath the hem of her shirt. He started to kiss her again, his hands getting bolder until he was gripping her bare skin and tracing the lowest bone on her ribcage

The realization of where he might be headed fought against the sudden surge of hormones.

No, wait, they should talk first. She didn’t want to be just some little side piece he hooked up with when no one was looking and then ignored the rest of the time.

“Ben—,” she struggled to say his name as he switched the angle of his attack. “Wait—” she got out between breaths.

He pulled his lips off hers but kept her securely beneath him, his voice sounded feral. “You looked so fucking hot in that little tank top. You just had to go and torture me by taking off that stupid sweater.”

It was her turn to close control. No one had ever called her hot before, not a boy at least. Her body, her awkward, too skinny, too flat, teenage body, was making him like _this._ She felt powerful, desirable. Grabbing the open collar of his flannel shirt, Rey yanked him back onto her, his hands bracing himself against the wall on either side of her head as she took the lead.

Her new confidence spurred her to lick a little bit against his lips as her hands fisted into his shirt. He hesitated briefly at the invitation and then his tongue was down her throat, one hand bracing himself while the other moved through her hair. It felt strange at first, and it took them a few tries before they found a rhythm, but before long they were taking turns sweeping their tongues through each other’s mouths.

_I’m French kissing! I’m French kissing Ben Solo!_

It was hard to form any other coherent thoughts—except _more._ Her hypothalamus was still learning its new responsibility of regulating sexual desire, and much like a teenager left with a pantry full of junk food, it was having a hard time saying no.

Ben’s hypothalamus was apparently losing it’s a battle against a surge of male testosterone as his pelvis pressed into her stomach.

Before the middle school sex-ed class, she’d heard people make jokes about “boners” but had no idea what it meant. On the bus ride home from sixth-grade camp, there was a big fuss about one of the boys having a boner, but when Rey curiously peaked over her seat, she didn’t see anything but him clutching his Trapper Keeper to his lap.

That day in 1996, with the lights dim and the movie playing on the wheeled-in TV, Rey’s eyes went wide with shock when the dad showed his adolescent son a chart of the male penis—and then a chart of an erect male penis—and she finally understood the term.

Understanding the mechanics and experiencing it first-hand were two completely different things. As Ben pressed his entire body into hers, she felt the bulge through his dark jeans.

_Oh my gosh, he has a boner!_

She supposed she should be shocked, horrified—but all she was, was hornier. The urge to grind against it came from some primal sequence buried in her DNA. The logistics of sex had always sounded tricky to her but it was suddenly becoming clear, their bodies knew exactly where they needed to be.

Experimentally, Rey rolled her hips against Ben as they continued to mack. He made a sound like he was dying so Rey pulled back to make sure she hadn’t hurt him. “Are you ok? Was that ok?”

“Fuck, yes.” Ben reached down to pull one of her knees up and held it as he adjusted his angle and rocked into her.

She screamed out at the contact and it carried through the whole auditorium as she slapped a hand over her mouth.

A few hot baths and some experimenting with her fingers had brought her to what she _thought_ were maybe orgasms but nothing she’d ever done had felt like that.

 _“More!”_ screamed her nucleus accumbens, the pleasure center of her brain, as dopamine dumped into her blood stream.

Using his shoulder to brace herself, Rey jumped to wrap both her legs around his waist. Reading her cues, Ben caught her thighs and leveraged his weight to keep her pinned to the wall. With their new position, he could grin into her while continuing to suck face.

 _Was this second base or still first base?_ No one had ever clearly laid out what the bases were. At Finn’s church they called something “petting” but she still had no idea what that was supposed to be.

Whatever it was, it was ecstasy. No wonder teenagers were constantly being told not to have sex. They already lacked the ability to make rational decisions with their partially formed brains, how were they expected to abstain from something that felt so good?

Whatever self-restraint Rey had a few minutes ago, was totally gone. _This_ , she was going to do _this_ for the rest of her life. Nothing mattered anymore—school, food, sleep—she could probably do without any of those as long as Ben kept doing whatever he was doing to her.

She slipped further and further into the haze of pleasure, content to play tonsil hockey with Ben Solo for the rest of her days, until she heard someone call her name. It took a few more times before cognitive function started to return and she stopped kissing Ben.

“Rey?”

It was Finn, she could see him over Ben’s shoulder. He was alone on the stage and looking around for her.

Slowly, like she was carefully climbing down a tree, Rey lowered herself to the ground, one leg at a time. Pushing against his chest, Rey slid out of under Ben, his fingers trailing across her exposed abdomen as she stepped out of the shadow. “I’m here.”

Finn caught her before she could pull up the strap of her tank top, that had slid off her shoulder, and then smooth back her disheveled hair. The shock truly registered on his face when Ben turned around, strategically pulling at his jeans and flipping his collar back down as he came into the light.

Though he was frozen in his tracks, Finn’s cerebrum still retained his capacity for speech. “Are you ready to go?”

Picking her fleece up off the floor and throwing it on, Rey was still feeling a little light-headed. “Yup. I’m coming.”

Waiting for her at the bottom step, Ben blocked her exit while he watched her pull her headband down around her neck and then push it back in place in her chestnut strands. When she looked up and caught him leering at her with a wicked smirk on his face, Rey twisted her mouth to the side to try and hide her own smile.

Putting her hands in her back pockets, Rey push her chest out as she sauntered over to Ben. “Want to go over that scene again after my shift?”

“Sure,” Ben tossed his hair out of his eyes as he turned to let Rey pass, resting his hands behind him on the rail. “Ten again?”

Taking her hands out of her pockets and ascending the steps, Rey slowly pulled up her zipper, hoping to tease Ben by putting the props back in the prop-room. “No, weeknights we close at nine.”

Crossing in front of Finn to pick up her backpack from the stage floor, Rey threw the straps over her shoulders and called behind to her paralyzed friend. “You coming? I don’t want to be late.”

Still staring at Ben Solo, Finn was startled from his trance when Ben fake lunged in his direction. She could hear Ben chuckle to himself as Finn ran after her.

Once they were outside, Finn yelled over the rustle of leaves in the fall breeze as Rey walked to his truck.

“Rey.”

She didn’t turn around, shoving her hands in her pockets and giving herself a few minutes to come up with a game plan.

“Rey!”

Trash blew across the parking lot as he jogged to catch up with her. Reminding herself that she had nothing to feel guilty about, Rey faced him. “What?”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Finn pulled out his keys and unlocked Rey’s door.

Opening the door, Rey threw her backpack onto the seat and then folded her arms on the door frame, keeping a poker face. “I haven’t the faintest.”

He walked over his side of the truck and unlocked his door. “You’re not going to make me actually say it?” He tossed in his bag and fished out his Lakers jacket.

“Say what?” Rey plopped into her seat and shut the door.

The vehicle shook as he climbed in and shut the door. Turning over the engine, Finn bit back a growl of frustration. “You were—,” he motioned toward the school and then swallowed like he’s about to be sick. “With Ben Solo!”

The seat squeaked as Rey pulled her seatbelt across her lap and clicked it. “And that’s any of your business because…”

Securing his belt as well, Finn started what felt like was going to be a long lecture. “Well—I,” his mouth hung open as his mind struggled to fill in the blanks.

“That’s right, because it isn’t any of your business.” Rey folded her arms and moved her head to accentuate each word like a smart-ass teenager would.

Finn turned in his seat and held both of Rey’s shoulders. “Rey, _you_ are my business. You’re my best friend, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Rey softened, letting down her defensive guard and starting to second guess herself.

“You know what kind of guy he is. It’s Ben freaking Solo, Rey. He went to jail for putting a guy in the hospital.” Finn let go of her shoulders, faced forward, and extended both hands in front of him in frustration before letting them fall on either side of his seat. Grabbing the top of the steering wheel, Finn turned to look back at Rey. “For heavens sakes, Rey, he’s dangerous.”

“He is not!” Rey pulled her knee onto the seat as she turned toward Finn. “And you have no idea why he went to juvie. You could ask every kid in this school why Ben Solo went to juvie and they’d all give you a different answer.” Rey pointed toward the school through the windshield. “No one in that school actually knows anything about him.”

“And you do?”

Rey swallowed but didn’t answer as Finn stared at her.

“That’s what I thought.” Finn put the car in gear and pulled out of his spot, his anger dissipating. “He scares me Rey, I just want you to be careful.”

Twisting a lock of her hair and biting her lip, Rey leaned back into her seat, her voice losing its resolve. “I am being careful.”

Shifting into drive, Finn drove them through the parking lot, his tone wary. “If you say so.”

While his blinker clicked, Rey looked at the school reflected in the side mirror. She was being careful, right? Up until twenty minutes ago, she was ready to write off the whole weekend as a fluke. But after seven minutes in heaven, she was jumping down Finn’s throat in defense of Ben. She still had no clue what was going on—why he ignored her all day—what they were to each other.

Rey let a frustrated breath of air blow out the side of her mouth, fluttering the hair falling on the side her face. They really needed to talk—like, actually talk—with words—and probably on opposite sides of a room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are enjoying this fic, I’d love if you gave another one of my works a read.
> 
> [ Yoga Is For Hippies ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782273/chapters/57129187): Professional golfer Kylo Ren/Ben Solo finds a cute little yoga instructor to help him loosen his hips. Explicit. 23 Chapters. COMPLETE (My first fic!) 
> 
> [A Vineyard in Baal-Hamon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459019/chapters/59026630): Medieval/renaissance piece. Rey and Kylo/Ben are sexual slaves for King Snoke. Explicit. 5/? Chapters. Tagged for Non-Con. 
> 
> [Recollection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609530/chapters/64880041): Ben Solo has been missing, presumed dead, for over ten years. While shopping for her son's birthday dinner, Rey sees a ghost from her past. Explicit. 3/? Chapters. (Calling all passengers for the Pain Train. Whoot-whoot)
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter! [HouseholdReylo](https://twitter.com/HouseholdReylo)


	6. Casting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is 80% Rey and Ben making out in his Road Runner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm back. I'm still so thankful to everyone who has read and left kudos & comments for YIFH. I read those comments over and over again and my eyes turn into heart emojis.
> 
> I'm ready to get back into Stage Kiss. I have big plans for these little thespians. If you enjoy this story, please leave me a comment. I know WIPs are risky and take forever but I desperately need your enthusiasm to keep me going. 
> 
> I have a new beta for this chapter and she's making me organize all my scattered thoughts for this fic. Thank you SunshineDaysies for asking the hard questions! Go read her stuff. [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineDaysies/works)

It was official, time had slowed down: the hands on the clock were reluctant to move forward; the earth gave up on its race around the sun; her shift would never, ever, be over.

Mondays were slow, but this Monday was a depressed sloth who’d just eaten a tray of “special” brownies. While Wex was in the back refilling the tea dispenser, Rey actually, but carefully, banged her head on the worn countertop.

Her forehead rested on the cool surface with her fingers wrapped around the edge of the counter as she let out a tired sigh. With a silent headset and an empty takeout counter, she had too much time to mull over the giant question mark that was “Ben Solo.” What was his deal? He bounced between hot and cold so much that it reminded Rey of walking through the sweltering kitchens and into the industrial freezer; he’d get her sweating and then the sudden chill would rattle her bones.

But he said he’d come after her shift. She just didn’t know which Ben would show up.

She should memorize lines, that’s what she should do. Maybe that would help pass the time and distract her from the teenage boy who couldn’t decide if he was going to destroy her with fire or ice.

Rey pulled the vertically folded pages from her purse, leaned her elbows on the counter, and read the first line. She closed her eyes and repeated it to herself. _Ay me._

Boom. First line memorized.

She read the second line and then closed her eyes, repeating the process. _Oh Romeo, oh Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?_ Easy.

It was going just fine—just swimmingly, actually—until she got to, “Nor any other part belonging to a man.” Shakespeare, man, what a perv. Though, it was her mind that was thinking about _it._ About how _it_ had felt pressed against her hip, her stomach, her...

He felt big, not that Rey had any reference for such a thing, but she’d overheard enough gossip to know size was—significant. She was beyond curious what his… _thing_ looked like, especially in the state she’d felt it in. All she knew of the male anatomy came from textbooks. It was still quite the enigma, like the rest of him.

The headset beeped, startling Rey from her salacious thoughts. God almighty, _she_ was the pervert.

Thankfully, there was a surge until closing that kept Rey’s mind off Ben Solo’s—off Ben Solo.

Rey took the last drive-thru order at 9:07pm with her manager standing next to her, ready to turn off the lights on the outdoor menu board as soon as she hit “total.” Maz stayed up front to help Rey and Wex with the end of day clean up, but with none of the tasks started until the last Styrofoam box was handed out, Rey didn’t clock out until 9:33.

She wondered if he would still be there, if he’d even come at all. He said he didn’t mind driving her home, but he’d never signed up for waiting around like a chauffeur. She imagined him in a little hat with a matching black suit, and a smile tugged at her lips. She physically shook the image from her mind when Wex asked if she needed a ride home.

“So, you don’t need a ride?” He took his jacket out from under the counter and handed Rey her jacket and purse.

Slipping on her fleece, Rey corrected, “Oh, sorry. Yes—I mean,” Rey checked the clock on the register again. 9:34. “I don’t know. I need to see if my ride is still here.”

Wex escorted Rey to the back of the restaurant where he held the back door open for her while she scanned the parking lot.

His Road Runner was backed into a spot in the last row on the property. She could make out his silhouette leaning against the passenger door, a burning orange dot moving between his mouth and his side, smoke wafting into the circular beam of streetlight that illuminated the hood of his car.

Rey’s eyes were too glued to the Rebel Without a Cause scene playing out in in front of her to look back at Wex as she waved good night. “I don’t need a ride. Thanks.”

She smoothed her hair down and pulled her shoulders back as she walked through the dark lot. Talking. What they needed to do is talk. No more of this immature hot/cold nonsense, Rey was getting answers.

She held her resolve until she got close enough to see his face—his stupid, handsome face. The streetlight’s yellow glow was enough to highlight half of his stupid eyebrows, and stupid nose, and stupid mouth. His stupid long hair fell across his stupid eyes as he looked down at his crossed Chuck Taylors. He took a long, final drag from his stupid cigarette before flicking it across the parking lot and looking up at Rey with a jerk to clear his view. He slowly pushed off the car and uncrossed his stupid feet as she finished the distance between them.

God, why did he have to be so stupidly hot?

Her fingers trailed down the strap of her knit purse that fell across her chest as she awkwardly took note that the lines in the parking lot could use a new coat of paint. “Sorry I’m—"

He was on her before she had time to protest. His hand was wrapped around the back of her neck, the other tight around her waist. His lips were pressed into hers, the bittersweet taste of the cigarette he’d just finished still on his tongue as it slid alongside hers.

She was being turned around, pressed against his car when her arms finally caught up with the situation and circled around his neck. The passenger window was cold against her back, the door handle dug into the back of her thighs, but she didn’t make any complaints. Instead, an involuntary whimper escaped with a breath as he moved to suck at her neck, marking new bruises alongside the still tender ones from that afternoon.

Large, dominating hands slid to her front and snuck under her fleece and polo. His thumbs traced the hip bones that peaked out the top of her low-rise khakis as he laid tender kisses on her abused skin. He moved his head to administer the same treatment to the other side of her neck as he gripped her tiny, bare waist.

Teeth dug into her skin and the spark of pain and pleasure jolted Rey from the haze she’d slipped into.

Talking. There was supposed to be talking.

“Wait, we should—" Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as his tongue and lips repented on the marks his teeth had just made.

_Oh God, that feels good._

Her fingers moved up his neck to tangle in his thick, soft hair. She tugged, hoping he’d enjoy the stab of pain as much as she enjoyed it on her neck.

The attention on her skin paused and he looked up, the streetlight reflecting like fire in his dark eyes.

“Ben—,” she gasped.

Those soft lips cut her off, swallowing any attempt at a regular conversation. He pulled his warm hands out from under her shirt and started to search blindly for the zipper of her fleece while he continued to kiss, and kiss, and— _Holy Hannah,_ could he kiss.

The zipper started to pull apart and a chill snuck between the undone buttons of her green polo. She pulled her head back, popping her lips off his long enough to suggest, “The car.” Whatever was going to happen—talking or, more likely, kissing—they should get in the car. He leaned forward reconnected them. She mumbled into his mouth, “We should—talk—car.”

His warm breath fluttered across her lips. “Okay.” He inhaled through his nose, giving her one last kiss as he wrapped a hand behind her onto the door handle. He pushed the button and they slid to the side to let the door swing open while he gave in and quickly kissed her again. And then again.

Rey pressed her hands to his chest to give him a little help. He licked his lips and nodded, “Okay, okay.” They stood there for several breaths, Rey’s hands holding him at arm’s length, as their panting slowed. He stared at the ground as Rey reveled in what he did to her, what she did to him. She felt like some kind of animal in heat when he touched her, and his pupils dilated so large that he looked like a wolf about to devour his prey. Who knew she and Ben Solo would have this kind of chemistry? Would kissing all boys be like this?

He finally stepped to the side, holding the open door while Rey dropped her hands and pulled at the hem of her zip up sweater, swallowing his taste down her throat while she slid onto the bench. The large door closed with a slam and Rey watched as Ben lifted his head and walked around the long front of the car, running his hands through his hair as he pulled it out of his eyes and smoothed down the back she’d ruffled with her fingers moments earlier. She heard him place a hand on the roof of the car, and watched his chest rise and fall several times through the driver side window before he yanked open his door.

Man, she really did a number on him. Huh.

The bench groaned as he took his seat and slammed his own door. His fingers wrapped around the top of the steering wheel as he closed his eyes and took another stabilizing breath.

They sat in silence for a few seconds while Rey wondered if she’d done something wrong. Maybe he was mad at her for breaking up their make out session—or taking so long to finish work. He kept breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, like he was trying to calm down.

Her eyes darted to his groin.

_Oh._

The sight of his… _bulge,_ did something to her, woke the little pervert she’d birthed that afternoon, and suddenly all she wanted was to feel it again, rub those nerves between her legs against it. She bit her bottom lip, reminding herself that they should talk. They needed to talk.

But her brain wasn’t fully formed yet. She was an adolescent, and adolescents make really stupid decisions. Really, really, stupid, hormone-fueled decisions.

_What the hell._

Rey set her purse on the floor, twisted in her seat, put one hand on the back of the bench and another on his thigh as she scooted herself closer. His eyes flew open at her touch and he turned to watch her press one knee into the bench and lift the other to straddle his lap. Ducking her head, she placed the other hand on the bench behind him, trapping him in as he looked up at her, dumbfounded.

“Is this okay?” She hoped she didn’t look as inexperienced as she felt. 

He sputtered, “Yes,” while nodding enthusiastically, his hands held out at his sides in surprise.

The leather bench squeaked as Rey let her knees spread wide, until she was flush with his _bulge._ Her hands left the bench behind him and she couldn’t help the smug smirk that grew across her face as she slowly unzipped her fleece. He helped her awkwardly shed her first layer, tossing the garment into her empty seat.

His eyebrow quirked as she undid the last of her three buttons at the top of the polo. She matched his expression as she pulled her arms into ill-fitting work top and then lifted it over her head, throwing it on top of her jacket. “Sorry, I hate that shirt.”

The blue and white stripes on her tank top clung to her modest curves while the raised hem gave a hint of her slim abdomen for him to admire. She was so grateful Morning Rey had tried on a dozen tops until she found one that would have his eyes flicking back and forth between her chest and waist, as if unsure what he wanted to touch more.

“You’re killing me with this fucking tank top.” His hands trailed up her bare arms until he was fingering one of the spaghetti straps of her tank and the pink strap of her bra. He pushed them both down her shoulder and started to kiss each freckle she’d earned that summer, a hum moving past her lips as she floated in the feeling of his lips on her skin.

Rey’s head rolled to the side as her eyes slid shut, his hot, wet lips burning a path from the round of her shoulder to the indention behind her ear. The hum morphed into a moan as he gave that spot behind her ear more attention. She wasn’t sure if him squeezing the flesh of her upper arms made her breathe out his name, or if he squeezed her arms _because_ she said his name. All she knew was that it turned her into a rag doll, her body so relaxed and heavy that she sank even further into his chest and lap.

The movement resulted in a gentle stroke between their pressed cores. Rey gasped at the sensation which encouraged Ben to rock once up into her. Her eyes flashed open and a fire ignited in her belly.

That. She needed more of that.

Her hands regained their strength as she cupped his face and planted her lips on his. The added height and position inspired Rey to take control, using him as she rocked her hips in search of that exquisite sensation again, and again, and again.

Guttural vibrations resonated in his throat as Rey explored. She decided to try nipping and kissing at his neck, still too shy to suck a hickey, but brave enough to paint his skin in her saliva. His whole body shook when she tucked his dark hair behind one ear and ran her fingers along the shell; and he dug his fingers into her waist, sucking in air with a hiss when she pulled her teeth across his earlobe.

When she was finished with that side of his neck, she kissed his mouth, a temporary stop on her way to the other side. She got side-tracked though when he bit her lower lip.

No one had mentioned there would be so much biting in kissing. Tongues, yes. The sucking/hickey thing, sure. But biting? Biting hurt, why would anyone want to be bitten? Well, it turns out, biting ruled. It ruled hard. It was the bomb diggity. All that and a bag of chips. Feeling very _Interview with the Vampire_ , Rey wondered where else Ben could bite her.

“Do that again,” she whispered in a breath between kisses.

Kiss. “Do—” Angle change. Kiss. “What again?”

“Bite my—” He caught the tip of her tongue between his teeth and she couldn’t stop the smile.

“You—” He soothed his attack with his tongue. “Like it—” His hands drifted centimeters up from her waist as he melded to her mouth again. “When I bite you?”

“Um, hum.” She hummed her confirmation into his mouth. “Very much so.”

He extracted a hand from under the tank top and drew one of her hands off his shoulder to hold her wrist. His breath ghosted over the web of veins, delicate bones, and tendons. Her skin grew goosepimples in response. “Here?” He looked up at her with her wrist in front of his mouth, a hint of disbelief and mischief sparking across his face, like a little boy who’d been told he could play with matches.

Rey drew her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes glued to how small and fragile her arm looked in his large hand and nodded.

His teeth sank into her skin, hard enough to leave indentations but not draw blood. Rey’s lungs struggled to remember how to breathe as the air was knocked from her chest. When she finally swallowed down a breath, it only escaped as an embarrassing cry. As the sharp pain rescinded, he drew his tongue flat across the skin, like a grooming cat, while he gave her a devastating, world destroying, havoc wrenching, stare up through his dark lashes. He didn’t break eye contact as he moved further up her arm and repeated the process. Rey felt her panties grow damp and her heart grow weak.

Worried that she would ruin her panties—or that he would ruin _her—_ Rey stopped Ben before he could bite her a third time, pushing against his chest to create a buffer between them. He flatly ignored her attempt and crashed back into her mouth, his tongue down her throat like he was looking for something that was rightfully his.

Rey let herself get lost in the fog, meeting his search with one of her own. His hands were back under her shirt, creeping north with each new kiss. His right thumb grazed the underside of her bra and Rey released a hand from his hair to push it back down to her waist.

When the same hand started to slide down the gap of her pants at the edge of her lower back, Rey broke their kiss. He stopped his descent but didn’t remove his hand as Rey placed her hands on either of his shoulders, looking down as she took a deep breath. “Okay. Hold on. We should talk.”

“Talking is stupid.” He bucked up into her and Rey gritted her teeth and stifled a whine as a wave of pleasure rippled through her.

She started to push herself back onto her knees, lifting the fallen straps of her bra and tank top. “I should get off so we can talk.”

“No, no.” He took her waist in both of his hands, over her shirt, and pressed her back down. “I’ll be good. I promise.”

She lifted her head and eyed him skeptically. He looked roguish in the faint light filtering in through the windshield. His lips were swollen, and his hair was starting to fall back into his face. She wanted to slide her fingers across his forehead, sweeping the hairs back into place. But she didn’t. The hypnotic state was starting to fade and the reality that she was sitting on Ben Solo’s lap started to materialize in startling clarity.

Rey cleared her throat, pulling her claw headband down and then pushing it back, letting her fingers pull back through her hair to make sure it was in place. “So, um, this,” she tentatively motioned between them, “what is this?”

He sighed, leaned back into the bench, and flicked those strands of lose hair out of his face as he looked out the side window. He shrugged as he looked back at her. “I don’t know.”

“Okay,” she dragged the word out. “Do you want it to be something?”

He shrugged again. “Sure.”

Sure? That’s all he had to say? Rey was irked. “But, today at school you acted like I didn’t exist.”

He closed his eyes and cracked his neck to one side. “Listen,” he opened his eyes, “Rey, I’m not one of those guys that’s going to walk you to class and hold your hand and send you candy grams on Valentine’s Day. If you’re looking for a boyfriend, I’m not it.”

“Okay.” Rey brought a fingernail between her teeth while she let that sink in, trying to keep her disappointment from showing on her face. She was almost sixteen, she could handle a casual thing. Make-out buddies. Friends with benefits. No messy feelings. No Commitments. She could do that. Yes, she reassured herself, she could definitely do that.

“If that’s what you want, then I guess we should stop,” he copied her movement of gesturing between them with a hint of mockery, “ _this.”_

“Oh. No.” she dropped her hand that had been at her mouth. “I don’t want to stop,” she swallowed, “ _this_.” She tucked her hair behind one ear as she looked at where their bodies were pressed. He was still hard against his jeans, against her. There were still mysteries that needed to be explored. She could be cool, but he didn’t need to be quite so much of an ass.

She leaned back, careful not to rest her full weight on the horn, and folded her arms. “I don’t need you to hold my hand, or be my boyfriend, but maybe you could at least acknowledge my presence.”

His brows knitted together, defensive. “I acknowledge your presence. We did an entire scene in rehearsal.”

Rey wiggled a few inches back on his lap, so their centers were no longer touching, and lifted an accusatory brow. “You walked right by me in the hall and avoided me at lunch.”

He huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes. “I avoid everyone at lunch. And you’re not allowed on the senior patio.”

Her flat palm waved beside her face to help emphasis her exasperation. “You could have at least smiled or something.”

Heck, maybe he wasn’t worth the trouble if he was going to be this difficult – or this dense.

“Smiled?” he stared at her like she’d just asked him to breath underwater.

Rey laid the attitude on thick. “Or something.”

Was it really so much to ask? God, Ben.

“Or something,” he repeated her. Ben took a deep breath and looked up at the headliner while he considered. Finally, he wiped his hand across his face with an exasperated sigh, surrendering. “Fine.” He gripped her waist and pulled her back against him, sliding his hands down to her thighs to try and rub away her irritation. “I will ‘smile or something’ at school.” He spread his fingers wide, tracing back to front around her spread thighs. He cocked an eyebrow, and a smirk grew across his lips, his words snaking up her spine like the devil himself. “And what do I get in return?” His eyes were on her exposed belly button as his hands threaded under her tank top, inching it upward.

Pushing his hands back down, once again, Rey giggled and blushed at his persistence while reveling in her victory over his behavior to her at school. She threaded one hand and then the other through his hair, starting at his temples and raking through the thick strands until she had a firm grip on the back of his skull. “You,” she pulled his head back and then leaned down to let her hot breath ghost across his exposed, vulnerable neck, “get the pleasure of my company.”

Ben’s Adam’s Apple bobbed as he swallowed. Amber eyes looked down at her with awe and amusement, a smile so large she could see his teeth as his tongue licked his molars. He liked her like this, forceful, dominant. His words sailed across on a laugh as his eyes twinkled. “How magnanimous.” He expressed his gratitude by placing his hands on her back and pulling her close. She loosened her hold and his head fell forward, their noses grazing as the heat from their breaths swirled together. “Yes,” she ran her fingers through his hair like he was her pet, and he nuzzled his nose into her wrist, leaving a kiss on her tender skin between each word, “my magnanimous Juliet.”

She wasn’t sure comparing her to the heroine of a tragic love story boded well for them, but the thought was lost as the distance between their lips closed and they resumed the hormone induced trance that weakens even the most responsible of teenagers.

When the temperature in the car started to drop, their body heat and fogged windows losing to the approaching fall’s chilly night, Rey finally slid back into her own seat, zipping up her fleece jacket while Ben turned the engine over. His stereo lit up, reading 11:28pm. Had she really made out with Ben Solo for TWO HOURS? She felt like a sailor that had been marooned by a siren’s song. Thank goodness Jodie’s note on the whiteboard said she’d be covering a late shift tonight.

The gravel crunched under Ben’s tires as he pulled into her driveway. She held the door handle, wondering if she should lean across the bench and kiss him goodbye, but that felt couple-y, and they weren’t a couple.

Cool. Chill. Fun. She could be those things. She was going to conquer the world, the stage; she didn’t need a boyfriend.

She pulled the handle and the door unlatched. With a wink, Rey looked back before stepping out of the car. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime.” He smiled with a suggestion of what kind of ride he was really offering _anytime_.

In the shower that night, Rey realized that his bite marks on her wrist weren’t as innocent as she’d thought. She gasped and traced her fingers over the purple marks along her neck after she wrapped her hair in a towel and looked in the mirror. Thank goodness the weather was cooling down and she could wear turtlenecks all week.

*

On Tuesday, as Rey passed Ben in the quad, he didn’t smile, but he did make eye contact and lift his chin in acknowledgement. She thought she saw him smirk to himself after but didn’t let herself look back over her shoulder to check. Instead, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning like a buffoon.

Finn caught the interaction but kept his disapproval to a silent frown.

After rehearsal, Finn asked if she needed a ride home while they stuffed their scripts in their backpacks.

“Um,” Rey quickly scanned the stage, but he’d already left. They’d never discussed if he was driving her today. He’s said “anytime” but she wasn’t sure if that actually meant any time. In fact, all that they’d come to a decision on was that he would acknowledge her at school, which he did, and that he was for sure not her boyfriend. Did “Guy she occasionally let bite her behind the Libby Hill” come with a daily ride home from school?

She glanced up at Finn while she zipped her backpack. “I’m not sure.”

“Right.” Finn slung his backpack over his shoulder with a little more force than necessary and walked away.

“Finn,” Rey grabbed her bag, putting both straps on, and followed, “wait.” She pulled open the closing theater door and chased after him down the hall while her bag bounced against her back. He stopped at the double glass doors that lead to the parking lot, a hand resting on the bar. His shoulders rose as he took a deep breath and turned around.

Rey slowed down as she caught up. “Please don’t be like that.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t.” Rey tucked her thumbs under the straps of her bag. “I know when you’re mad at me.”

He sighed, running his hand up the back of his head as he studied the floor. “I’m not mad at you, Rey.” His voice was weary. “I’m just worried.”

“Well,” she looked down at her Adidas, “you don’t need to worry. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.” Her eye met his. “Please just trust me.”

He extended his arm and Rey stepped in for his one-armed hug. “You’re not the one I don’t trust,” he resigned.

*

Hux was smoking with Ben in the parking lot, leaning up against the Road Runner, as Rey and Finn walked out the school doors and past the concrete trapped tree, the fallen leaves crunching under their feet. He spoke for only her to hear, “I’ll be at my truck if you need a ride, Peanut,” and then headed toward the underclassmen spots.

Rey wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. Hux’s presence doused the confidence she was starting to have around Ben and only confused her more. Should she just ignore him and catch up with Finn? Or go say hi? Why didn’t being a cool, chill, fun high school girl come with a manual? She shifted her weight from foot to foot as her mind struggled with which direction to take.

“Did you forget how to walk?” Hux took a puff from his cigarette. The way he held it reminded her of the way fancy ladies hold their cigarette on a stick. Rey snickered at the thought. “What’s so funny?” he demanded, “Did it finally occur to you how ridiculous it is having an underclassman in our competition play?”

Her mouth was open, ready for her retort when Ben answered for her. “I competed when I was an underclassman.” Ben tossed his hair, flicking the ash off his smoke before bringing it to his quirked lips.

He only lifted his self-satisfied eyebrows higher when Hux whipped around, appalled that Ben wasn’t helping him dress down the weaker member of the herd.

“That was different!” Ben’s smug, unfazed expression only made Hux angrier as he argued his case. “You’re--you deserved a spot.”

“So does she.” Ben’s hair fell into his eyes as he dropped the bud onto the asphalt next to his door and twisted his toes on top of it. He flicked the hair out of his eyes as he looked past Hux to Rey with a pressed lip grin and a beguiling, raised eyebrow. “You ready to go?”

Rey realized her mouth as still hanging open so she closed it and nodded, hoping her huge eyes didn’t give away how much she adored his praise.

He pulled his keys out of his pocket as Hux’s eyes traced a horrified line between Rey and Ben. “You—wait, you’re giving _her_ a ride?”

Ben pulled his door open, glancing in her direction once more, “If she wants one,” before he ducked inside.

Rey chewed on her smile as she approached the car, peeking up through her lashes at a stunned Hux. Turns out, being Ben’s not-girlfriend had certain perks, including the priceless look on Hux’s face. He stood to the side, his mouth agape, as Rey opened the door and hunched over to look for the release lever on the passenger seat. Ben leaned across the bench to meet her.

“Hey.” He looked genuinely pleased to see her, like he was seeing her for the first time that day—even though they’d just spent an hour on the same stage.

“Hey.” She smiled back.

He showed her where the lever was to fold the seat forward, but when she started to climb in the back, he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“No, wait.” She paused and winkled her forehead in confusion. Ben tilted his head to address Hux over her shoulder. “You’re in back.”

“Excuse me!” Hux looked around the empty parking lot like he was in search of a manager to report this injustice to.

Pulling herself back out of the car, Rey looked up at a very put-out Hux, and then back down at an insistent Ben. She took a step back as the boys carried on some kind of silent macho-masculine-dominance standoff, unsure if she should step in.

When neither budged, Rey scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, you’re acting like children. Ben, I’ll just get in the back, my legs are shorter anyway.” She slid her backpack off her shoulders and hunched to crawl in.

“No.” Ben stopped her again. “You’re not sitting in the back.” He was dead serious.

Once again, Rey stood back up, letting her backpack rest at her feet as she stood in an awkward game of chicken with Hux. The redhead finally dropped the cigarette that had burned down to his fingers and brushed past Rey in a huff of indignation. He sat in the middle of the back seat and folded his arms like a petulant child, refusing to meet Rey’s glance as she pushed the seat back up and took her spot.

Ben stole a sideway glance with Rey and started the engine as the smirk on his face reached his eyes. He loved a victory almost as much as Rey did. God help them.

The stereo didn’t resume anything, and Ben didn’t bother to put in a new album as he drove them out of the parking lot, giving the ginger in the back a silent car in which to simmer.

Rey didn’t know if she should try and say something to break the growing tension or just roll around in the self-satisfaction of Ben sticking up for her and sitting her in the throne next to him. The view from up here could easily go to her head.

Ben pushed his right sleeve up, exposing his muscular forearm, and then shifted the car into another gear. Protective, alpha male looked really hot on Ben.

Squeezing her thighs together, Rey folded an arm across her belly, resting the tops of her cool fingers against her warm cheek.

When he’d appeared to have boiled over, Hux waved his hand between the two of them. “So, what the hell is this anyway? You two fucking?”

“Don’t,” Ben warned with a glance at the rear-view mirror and then a quick check in Rey’s direction. Did not-boyfriends defend their not-girlfriends' honors?

Hux leaned forward and rested his folded arms on the back of the bench as he let out a chuckle. “What was I thinking? The virgin princess wouldn’t let anyone near that tight little pussy.”

The car drifted across the lines as Ben looked over his shoulder, a threat in his tone, “I said, don’t!”

“Ben,” Rey lifted a hand to rest on his shoulder, the car correcting back into their lane as he focused on the road. “It’s okay,” her smile grew while her eyes narrowed. “The only pussy he’s gotten his hands near has whiskers and a tail.”

“That’s simply not true.” Hux leaned back in his seat, refolding his arms across his chest as his cheeks pinked.

Looking over the seat, Rey clawed her fingers at Hux and meowed. He just turned to stare out the window like a pouting prince.

Rey turned back around, glancing at Ben to see if he’d appreciated her burn. He was staring at the road as he rolled a smile around in his mouth. His large right hand left the steering wheel and gave her thigh a teasing squeeze, his eyes following his hands and then drifting up her body to watch her grin with her bottom lip between her teeth. He replaced his hand back on top of the wheel and rested his left elbow on his door as he licked his lips and dragged his eyes back at the road.

She tried not to let his approval mean so much to her, but it did, it really, really did.

Rey didn’t try anything else with Hux, instead giving his fragile ego the rest of the drive to recover. When the car pulled into her driveway, Rey gathered up her bag, setting it in her lap as she looked over at Ben. She wished Hux wasn’t there, their apparent six-foot baby. She also wished her mom wasn’t working morning shifts and would be home any minute. She’d invite Ben in, and they could…work on their scene.

“Well, thanks for the ride.” Rey hugged her bag.

Ben placed one hand on the back of the bench and leaned into Rey. Her eyes widened as she glanced back at Hux. Was Ben going to kiss her? In front of Hux? His other hand reached across her body to unlatch her door. “Anytime.” He hovered across her, letting his eyebrows jump once as his sly smile dripped from his mouth, before pulling back away. 

Her footsteps echoed on the wooden steps up to the front door as her heartrate returned to normal. She held it open and looked back to give a small wave and a smile.

Not her boyfriend. Not her boyfriend.

Cool. Chill. Fun.

Ben pulled out of the driveway, Hux back at his side, as he gave her a little nod before flipping his hair and looking over his shoulder to direct the car onto the road.

Damn it, she was completely screwed.

That night, over IM, Ben told Rey that Hux dresses up his cat Millicent in little hats. Rey actually cried laughing.

Wednesday and Thursday followed similarly. Ben acknowledged Rey at school, an actual smile on Wednesday, and a “Hey” on Thursday. The boys would take her home after rehearsal, and then Rey and Ben would leave open their AIM chat boxes, talking on and off between homework, chores, and dinner. Every time he’d pay her a compliment or make her laugh, she’d tell her fluttering heart to get a grip and repeat the mantra. Cool. Chill. Fun.

Ben shared more embarrassing information about Hux to help Rey with her rebuttals. Knowing he was an aspiring close-up magic magician, that he wrote Star Trek fan fiction, and that he still took children’s chewable Tylenol because he couldn’t swallow pills, gave Rey much more confidence when his insults came flying.

After screwing up a stage direction in rehearsal that day, Hux fired from the backseat, “Hey Rey, figure out which side stage left is on yet?”

“Hey Hux,” she returned over her shoulder, “figured out how where prepositions go yet?

He was much better at dishing it, than taking it, his face and neck always giving away his embarrassment, turning a shade to match his hair while Ben would silently smirk over at her.

Rey ate it up.

On Thursday, she pointed out a vintage Volkswagen Beetle as it drove by on the opposite side of the road and picked up their conversation from the night before. “Oh, I’d love to get one of those.” Rey looked over her shoulder at Hux, “Ben’s going to help me pick out a car for when I turn sixteen,” she sighed as she faced forward, “and have enough money saved.”

“God, can I chip in?” he groaned, his sarcasm wafting to the front seat, “I don’t know how much longer I can endure your delightful company on these afternoon drives.”

Rey looked over her shoulder. “Isn’t your daddy a doctor, or something? Why doesn’t he buy you your own car?”

Hux didn’t respond, the scoff wiped off his face as he suddenly became very occupied in retying his scarf. Ben looked over his shoulder to check on his friend and Rey wondered what nerve she had struck.

Neither boy said anything else the rest of the drive.

Friday, Hux was missing again. Rey brushed aside the impulse to ask what had him occupied every Friday as she reached for the door handle. She’d changed into her green work polo but still asked, “Can you take me to the restaurant today?”

“Sure.” Ben popped two pieced of gum from a foil packet before he took his seat.

Even though she’d ridden in his car every day for a week, a little butterfly of nerves fluttered in her stomach each time she slid onto the bench. He’d had his tongue down her throat, but he was still _Ben Solo_ and Rey couldn’t help but feel intimidated by his dramatic presence, no matter how many embarrassing stories he divulged to her at night. She still didn’t really understand what this thing between them was. Each day she felt closer and closer to him as they spilled secrets over the internet, but they were just friends, like her and Finn. At least, she thought they were friends… Yes, they were friends. Right? He gave her rides, like a friend, like Finn. They just…kissed occasionally, absolutely nothing like her and Finn.

With an hour before her shift and the absence of Hux’s insults, she was determined to get some answers. And maybe a ride schedule. Yeah, that sounded like the kind of riveting conversation he’d definitely be interested in having. Not.

Rey’s tongue darted out to lick her lips as she buckled her seatbelt. “I got tomorrow off for the Alumni thing but I’m working Sunday to make up for it.” That still left several open weekend hours. She hoped he’d want to spend some of them with her.

“Okay.” Ben turned the key.

Running her hands over her hair, Rey checked to make sure her butterfly clips were still in place. “We should run through the balcony scene a few times before tomorrow night.”

“Okay.” He placed his hand on the back of her seat as he pulled out of the spot.

Her cold fingertips found warmth as she stuck them under her thighs. “How about tonight after my shift? I mean, if you don’t mind driving me home.”

Ben glanced at her, looking nether displeased or particularly exuberant, as he made a right turn. “Sure.”

“Okay. Cool.” Rey wanted to ask about Saturday but decided that could wait until Ben was feeling a bit more talkative, whenever that was. Ben turned the volume up on a band Rey didn’t recognize and they made their way across town to the restaurant.

They were pulling into the parking lot when Rey couldn’t keep the question in her mouth any longer.

“What about tomorrow?” Rey wiped her hands across the front of her jeans. “Do you…want to drive me? Finn can take me if you don’t want to. You’ve been so nice driving me home all week and Finn totally doesn’t mind giving me rides. I think Hux would probably—”

“Rey.”

She looked up hopefully from undoing her seatbelt. “Yeah?”

His lips quirked at the corners as he put the car in park. “Stop talking.” He was on top of her before the pistons stopped firing.

It had been four days. Four days since she’d had his mouth on hers, his warm breath raising the fine hairs along her neck and jaw; four days without his large hands sneaking under her shirt, inching closer and closer to their goal; four days that her hands hadn’t tangled in his ridiculously soft hair.

She was pressed against the window, but as they fell back into a familiar rhythm, Rey started to slide down until she was lying flat on the bench seat. One of her legs hung off the seat while the other was bent and leaned against the back of the bench. Ben loomed over her, one of his hands braced on the top of the bench while the other wrapped under her waist.

After a few minutes of sucking face, Rey pushed him up with her hands braced against his chest, “Okay but, are you going to drive me or should I—”

He used his weight to press back into her and started a new round of attacks on her lips. A few minutes later, Rey forced a mumble of words into his mouth, “I just need to know if I should ask—"

“I’ll drive you!” he blurted, but Rey wouldn’t leave it alone, gasping each word between breaths and angle changes.

“You—don’t—mind? You’ve—given—me—so many rides already.”

Ben pushed himself up on his hand braced next to her fanned-out hair. “Your shift starts in what,” Ben lifted his hand to check his watch, “thirty-eight minutes.” He slid his hand under her shirt and around her waist. “Do you want to discuss transportation the entire time?”

Rey blushed, feeling ridiculous. “No.”

He chuckled through his nose and brushed lose hair out of her face. “Then shut the fuck up, yeah?”

She startled at his indelicate words but nodded at his eyes seared her propriety black. “Okay,” Rey squeaked as he latched onto her neck and she drifted into a blissed-out state of ecstasy for the next thirty-seven minutes and fifty-nine seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are enjoying this fic, I’d love if you gave another one of my works a read.
> 
> [ Yoga Is For Hippies ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782273/chapters/57129187): Professional golfer Kylo Ren/Ben Solo finds a cute little yoga instructor to help him loosen his hips. Explicit. 23 Chapters. COMPLETE (My first fic!) 
> 
> [A Vineyard in Baal-Hamon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459019/chapters/59026630): Medieval/renaissance piece. Rey and Kylo/Ben are sexual slaves for King Snoke. Explicit. 5/? Chapters. Tagged for Non-Con. 
> 
> [Recollection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609530/chapters/64880041): Ben Solo has been missing, presumed dead, for over ten years. While shopping for her son's birthday dinner, Rey sees a ghost from her past. Explicit. 3/? Chapters. (Calling all passengers for the Pain Train. Whoot-whoot)
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter! [HouseholdReylo](https://twitter.com/HouseholdReylo)

**Author's Note:**

> If you are enjoying this fic, I’d love if you gave another one of my works a read.
> 
> [ Yoga Is For Hippies ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782273/chapters/57129187): Professional golfer Kylo Ren/Ben Solo finds a cute little yoga instructor to help him loosen his hips. Explicit. 23 Chapters. COMPLETE (My first fic!) 
> 
> [A Vineyard in Baal-Hamon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459019/chapters/59026630): Medieval/renaissance piece. Rey and Kylo/Ben are sexual slaves for King Snoke. Explicit. 5/? Chapters. Tagged for Non-Con. 
> 
> [Recollection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609530/chapters/64880041): Ben Solo has been missing, presumed dead, for over ten years. While shopping for her son's birthday dinner, Rey sees a ghost from her past. Explicit. 3/? Chapters. (Calling all passengers for the Pain Train. Whoot-whoot)
> 
> Come say hello on Twitter! [HouseholdReylo](https://twitter.com/HouseholdReylo)


End file.
